02.27.09

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , February 27, 2009

Bishop Coleman’s Lenten Message

‘A Time of Conversion’

Dear Friends in Christ, s we begin the holy season of Lent, we join fellow Christians throughout the world in a 40-day period of preparation to celebrate Christ’s victory over death at Easter. Each year, the Church proposes Lent to us as a time of conversion. For centuries, our tradition has called us to employ the means of more fervent prayer, self-denial, and almsgiving in order to focus our attention on the goal of growing closer to God. his year, living with the reality of economic uncertainty and crisis, we face concrete examples that show us the temporary nature of prosperity and wealth. On a daily basis, we hear about the decline of industry, the rise in unemployment, and the enormous number of home foreclosures. These, in turn, recall the fragile condition of our humanity and remind us of the continuing need for reconciliation with God and one another. As Christians who are preparing to celebrate the dying and rising of Jesus, we do well to make this penitential season an occasion for sincere conversion and reconciliation. t Mass on Ash Wednesday, we read from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. During the current Pauline Year, I recommend for your meditation St. Paul’s appeal from this epistle: “We implore you, in Christ’s name, be reconciled to God! For our sakes God made him who did not know sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the very holiness of God” (2Cor 5:20b-21). Reconciliation actually fills a deep need we feel for healing and wholeness. In addition, the personal holiness Paul speaks of is the goal of Lent. uring this holy season, we receive an opportunity to translate this message into our words and actions. We hear St. Paul say, “‘In an acceptable time I have heard you; on a day of salvation I have helped you.’

Now is the acceptable time!

Now is the day of salvation!”

(2Cor 6:2). ent challenges us to take this exhortation seriously and even to work hard at putting it into practice. It challenges us not only to turn away from sin, but also to turn toward our risen Lord, who longs to share his life and happiness with us. When we accept the challenge of this beautiful season’s discipline, we prepare ourselves to participate fully in the glorious hope of Christ’s Resurrection.

Sincerely yours in the Lord,

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LENT ONLINE — Stonehill College’s Website will be offering a series of 40 Scripture passages with accompanying reflections from students, alumni, staff and faculty members for every day during the season of Lent which began on Ash Wednesday.

Stonehill College to offer daily Lenten reflections on Website

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

EASTON — As area Catholics prepare to observe Lent, they’ll now have a unique opportunity to take a few moments from their busy day to reflect on the season through Stonehill College’s Website.

From Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday, the Website will offer a series of daily Lenten reflections written by students, alumni, faculty,

and staff members at the college as a means to share their faith with others.

According to Father Thomas P. Looney, CSC, vice president for Mission at Stonehill College, the project began last year after they posted daily Lenten reflections on the Website based on the writings of Blessed Father Basil Moreau, CSC, the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross. During the subsequent Advent and Christmas

seasons, invitations were extended to students, faculty and staff members to write their own reflections, all of which were very well received.

Father Looney said he wanted to continue that tradition with Lent.

“We sent each person the Gospel reading for that day from the liturgy during Lent, and we asked them to use that as a basis to begin their reflecTurn to page 14

teachable moment for parents to talk with their children about sexuality as a God-given gift, according to diocesan priests and youth ministers.

They said it’s also a wake-up call for ministries to help parents cope with virtual reality’s pull on youngsters.

The case of the local boys, 12-14, became public February 11. One boy initially sent

a photo of his partially nude 13-year-old girlfriend via cell phone; it was forwarded, and now all could face various felony charges.

The charges include possessing or exhibiting a photograph of a child in a sexual act, distributing material of a child in a sexual act, and possession of child pornography, according to the Cape Cod Times report.

A clerk magistrate in Falmouth District Court reportedly has taken the case under advisement after several of the boys appeared there February 12.

Their summons to juvenile court followed a two-week investigation by Falmouth police, who were alerted to the case January 15 by Lawrence Turn to page 15

Cape Cod teen ‘sexting’ scandal can provide teachable moments for parents

B y Gail Besse A nchor C orrespondent

FALMOUTH — The account of six Falmouth teens possibly facing child pornography charges hit the news nationwide recently as adults clued into a growing trend.

“Sexting” is the practice of sending sexually explicit messages via cell phone.

It’s news that can offer a

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Bishop of Fall River

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News From the Vatican

February 27, 2009

Marking its 80th, Vatican celebrates its nationhood

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The smallest nation in the world is celebrating a relatively young 80th birthday this year.

Although the Catholic Church has a 2,000-year history, Vatican City State was established Feb. 11, 1929, to guarantee that the Holy See and the pope could freely carry out their spiritual mission of confirming Christians in the faith and guiding the universal Church.

The transition from the Papal States to nationhood was a long and bumpy road.

Starting in the eighth century, the Church wielded temporal power over what was known as the Papal States, a shifting group of territories across parts of modern-day Italy.

The popes at the time were territorial sovereigns and, as such, had to deal with the unpleasant risks and worries of foreign powers bent on invasion, rival Roman emperors and powerful Roman families vying for control of the papacy.

In the 19th century, revolutionaries fought against papal control in their struggle to unify Italy and the Papal States dissolved in 1870 after Rome and the surrounding territories were annexed to a unified country covering the entire peninsula.

A dispute with the Italian government over the sovereignty of the Holy See kept popes confined inside the walls of the Vatican from 1870 to 1929.

The dispute, which became known as the Roman Question, did not seem to have a quick and easy answer.

On the one hand, Italy had legitimate aspirations “to finally achieve its own state unity and, among other things, to designate as its capital Rome, which had been its point of reference for millennia,” said a front-page article in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, February 11.

But on the other hand, it said, Rome was the see of Peter and his successors. The Holy See legitimately needed a formal and effective guarantee of its independence and freedom, “which are absolutely necessary for the pontiff in order to carry out his spiritual mission on a universal level,” the paper said.

No pope wanted to compromise his task as shepherd of the universal Church by being under the control and authority of a sovereign leader.

Years of negotiations under Pope Pius XI finally resulted in a resolution. Vatican officials and Italy’s Prime Minister Benito Mussolini signed the Lateran Pacts of 1929 in which the Vatican and the Italian state recognized each other as sovereign nations.

Pope Pius, who is considered the founder of the new nation, now had an enormous, nonspiritual task before him: planning and building all the infrastructure that would be needed for the smooth functioning of an independent state on 109 acres of land.

How Vatican City State was built up nearly from scratch is at the center of a new exhibit open in the Braccio di Carlo Magno hall in St. Peter’s Square until May 10.

Old maps show how, behind St. Peter’s Basilica, acres of vineyards and vegetable gardens that had supplied homegrown goods to the pope and Vatican seminaries were razed to make way for the building of a governor’s office.

The administrative office would come to coordinate the functions of some 20 agencies today, including the Vatican Museums and the offices responsible for security, personnel and building maintenance throughout the territory.

The governor’s office continues to oversee all the new buildings that were erected under Pope Pius’ direction, including the Vatican’s railway station, electrical generating plant and radio.

The Vatican received technical and material help from Italy and even the United States.

The U.S. Western Electric Company and Bell Telephone Laboratories built and supplied the shortwave radio receiver that was used by the newly founded Vatican Radio.

Pope Pius had invited the inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi, to build the radio broadcasting station, which was inaugurated Feb. 12, 1931. The exhibit shows a medium wave antenna, a carbon microphone and other instruments Marconi designed for Vatican Radio.

A 1931 census report in the exhibit shows 711 people held Vatican citizenship and another 283 noncitizens were resident within its walls, for a total population of 994. The census that year registered the births of five boys and six girls, who, by virtue of being born on Vatican territory, automatically became Vatican citizens.

VATICAN VISIT — U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi smiles during a ceremony at the Italian legislature in Rome. Pelosi met with Pope Benedict XVI after the pope’s general audience February 18. (CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters)

Catholic legislators must protect life, pope tells Speaker Pelosi

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

leaders for centuries had not been able to agree on when life begins.

She told interviewer Tom VATICAN CITY — Pope Brokaw, “We don’t know” when Benedict XVI met privately with life begins.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, speaker “I don’t think anybody can of the House of Representatives, tell you when life begins, human and told her that all Catholics, eslife begins. As I say, the Catholic pecially those who are lawmakers, Church for centuries has been dismust work to protect human life at cussing this,” she said. every stage.

The chairmen of the U.S. bishPelosi, a Catholic Democrat ops’ Pro-Life and doctrine comfrom California, has been critimittees criticized Pelosi, saying cized by many Catholics for her she “misrepresented the history support for keeping abortion leand nature of the augal. thentic teaching of the “His Holiness took he speaker has made no secret of her Catholic Church on the opportunity to speak belief that while efforts are needed abortion” in the interof the requirements of the natural moral law to reduce the number of abortions in the view.

Cardinal Justin Riand the Church’s consis- United States and to help women faced gali of Philadelphia and tent teaching on the dignity of human life from with problem pregnancies, she believes Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., conception to natural abortion must remain safe and legal. said the Church since death,” the Vatican said the first century “has in a statement about the dent Obama, as I have worked affirmed the moral evil of every February 18 meeting.

Natural law and the Church’s throughout my entire career, to abortion.”

“The teaching has not changed own teaching require “all Catho- ensure a woman’s right to choose.

“Decisions about whether to and remains unchangeable,” their lics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the have a child do not and should statement said. “Direct abortion, common good of society, to work not rest with the government. We that is to say, abortion willed eiin cooperation with all men and believe a woman — in consulta- ther as an end or a means, is gravewomen of good will in creating tion with her family, her physician ly contrary to the moral law.”

In an April teleconference with a just system of laws capable of and her faith — is best qualified to Catholic News Service and other protecting human life at all stages make that decision,” Pelosi said.

As a publicly practicing Catho- media representatives, Pelosi said, of its development,” the statement lic and a public opponent of efforts “I have a sort of serenity” about resaid.

Pelosi was making an official to make abortion illegal, Pelosi ceiving Communion even though visit to Italy to meet members of has come under sharp criticism by her position on abortion differs the U.S. military stationed in the some bishops and other Catholics from the Church’s.

“The Church sees it another country and to discuss common who believe that a politician who security concerns with Italian supports legalized abortion should way, and I respect that,” she said, not be allowed to receive Com- adding, however, that she hoped government leaders. the U.S. bishops would not use Her 15-minute meeting with munion.

Pelosi angered many bishops the refusal of holy Communion as Pope Benedict took place in a small room in the Vatican audi- and other Catholics in August a way of punishing Catholic polience hall after the pope’s weekly when she told the television pro- ticians who don’t heed Church gram “Meet the Press” that Church teachings on abortion. general audience.

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Pelosi and her staff were not immediately available for comment.

The speaker has made no secret of her belief that while efforts are needed to reduce the number of abortions in the United States and to help women faced with problem pregnancies, she believes abortion must remain safe and legal.

Coinciding with the 2009 March for Life in Washington, Pelosi issued a statement January 22 saying, “I will work with Presi-

News From the Vatican

February 27, 2009

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Traditionalist bishop: Reconciliation with Vatican may prove difficult

KNIGHT TIME — Pope Benedict XVI greets the grand master of the Knights of Malta, Matthew Festing of Britain, before a concert in Paul VI hall at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Giampiero Sposito, Reuters)

With its diversity, Catholic Church is united in Christ, pontiff says

VATICAN CITY — The Catholic Church is not limited to one particular culture or language, but with its diversity it is united in Christ, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The catholicity of the Church reflects a “fidelity to tradition together with being open to developments in history” and to the search for unity in the diversity of cultures, the pope said February 18 during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

The pope’s talk focused on St. Bede the Venerable, an eighthcentury Christian writer and doctor of the Church.

The British saint saw the Church grow from being rooted in Jewish, Greek and Roman cultures to becoming a truly universal body, he said.

“The Church is not restricted to one particular culture, but is made up of all cultures of the world that are open and they find their point of destination in Christ,” he said.

Due to the large numbers of pilgrims in attendance, the gen-

The Anchor

eral audience was held outside in St. Peter’s Square even though temperatures hovered near freezing.

The pope apologized for the cold weather to the more than 15,000 people bracing against 30 mph gusts of wind, which at one point swept away his white zucchetto.

But on the bright side, he said, “at least it’s not raining or snowing so we are thankful for that.”

The pope said St. Bede’s “rich ecclesial, liturgical and historical vision enabled his writings to serve as a guide” that is still useful today for Catholic teachers, pastors and parents.

The saint said one important task for teachers is to study “the wonders of the word of God and to present them in an attractive manner to the faithful,” said the pope.

Priests must place their priority on preaching, which can be done with more than just the spoken word and can include the use of icons, processions and pilgrimages, the pope said St. Bede OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 53, No. 8

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taught.

St. Bede urged pastors to use the local language, just as he had done. For example, the British scholar always taught and explained the Gospel, the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed in the local dialect of Northumberland, said the pope.

The saint also maintained that parents “can exercise the priestly office of shepherd and guide” in their own homes by educating and raising their children in a Christian atmosphere, Pope Benedict said.

St. Bede taught that Christ wants an industrious, hardworking Church that shows the signs of toiling under the bright sun, evangelizing new lands and sowing the seeds of God’s word, he said.

“The Church must till new fields or vineyards and establish among new peoples not a temporary hut, but a solid home, which means to insert the Gospel in the social fabric and cultural institutions” of new missionary lands, said the pope.

Pope Benedict underlined how St. Bede successfully contributed to the building of a Christian Europe in which different cultures and peoples were bound together and inspired by the Christian faith.

The pope prayed that even today there would be public figures like this British doctor of the Church working “to keep the whole continent united.”

He asked that “everyone be willing to rediscover our common Christian roots in Europe and be builders of a Europe that is authentically Christian and deeply human.”

ROME (CNS) — The head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X said reconciliation with the Vatican on doctrinal issues may be difficult because of different perspectives on the Second Vatican Council.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Swiss-based society, said Pope Benedict XVI’s recent lifting of the excommunications of himself and three other bishops was a positive step toward establishing full communion.

“We have already responded by affirming our desire to proceed with a positive spirit along the path of discussion indicated by the Holy Father,” Bishop Fellay said in an recent interview with the Swiss newspaper Le Nouvelliste.

“But we do not want to do this in haste. When one walks through a minefield, prudence and moderation are necessary,” he said.

Asked whether he had hope of reaching a doctrinal consensus with the pope, Bishop Fellay responded: “That seems difficult.

Certainly he seems close to us on the question of liturgy. On the other hand, he holds very deeply to the innovations of Vatican II.” In early February, the Vatican emphasized in a statement that the traditionalist society would have to recognize the teachings of Vatican II in order to be in full communion with the church.

Bishop Fellay said discussions on those issues could take a long time, since the society will insist on clarifying the council’s teachings before an agreement can be reached. In doing so, he said, the society will be performing a ser-

vice to the whole Church.

“The texts are not clear, and there are a multitude of diverse interpretations that have gained currency in the Church. If one does not desire the collapse of the Church, clarifications on this council — which was supposed to be pastoral and not dogmatic — are urgently needed,” he said.

He said the teachings of Vatican II were never intended to be infallible, and “will never be superdogma.”

He added that the society is not seeking a “strictly canonical agreement” with the Vatican, but “a solution that concerns the foundation of the problem, which is the doctrinal and moral crisis in the Church.”

Bishop Fellay and three other bishops were ordained against papal orders in 1988 by the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society of St. Pius X. One of the four, Britishborn Bishop Richard Williamson, recently provoked widespread indignation by asserting that the Holocaust was exaggerated and that no Jews died in Nazi gas chambers.

The Vatican responded by saying that Bishop Williamson must disavow his positions on the Holocaust before he will be accepted into full communion with the Church.

In the interview, Bishop Fellay said Bishop Williamson was “studying the matter” and would fulfill his responsibilities.

“But he must be given time, because he wants to study it seriously in order to give a sincere and true response,” he said

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The Church in the U.S.

February 27, 2009

Court handling Davenport Diocese’s bankruptcy sues papal nuncio to U.S.

DAVENPORT, Iowa — The trustee handling the settlement of the Diocese of Davenport’s bankruptcy case has sued the apostolic nuncio to the United States for funds that include parishioners’ donations to Peter’s Pence, which supports charitable causes chosen by the pope.

According to court documents, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Iowa is seeking about $73,000 from Archbishop Pietro Sambi as the papal nuncio.

The documents show that the money in question comes from payments the diocese made to the apostolic nunciature during a one-year period prior to filing for bankruptcy Oct. 10, 2006.

During that period, the diocese made seven payments totaling $72,906. Approximately half of that money came from the annual collection taken in parishes throughout the diocese to support Peter’s Pence.

Another portion of the money was a contribution the diocese made to the Vatican as required by canon law. Canon 1271 says that “according to the resources of their dioceses, bishops are to assist in procuring those means which the Apostolic See needs to offer service properly to the universal Church.”

Trustee Robert Berger claims in the lawsuit that the payments were made to the apostolic nuncio with “an actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud the diocese’s creditors.”

Char Maaske, the diocese’s chief financial officer, said the money from the Peter’s Pence collection was “not our money; we were just a pass-through” for parishioners’ donations to the charitable fund.

The money paid to the Vatican

as part of the diocese’s canon law obligation was a matter of the diocese paying its quarterly bills in the normal course of business, she added.

The Catholic Messenger, Davenport’s diocesan newspaper, was unsuccessful in reaching Berger or Archbishop Sambi for comment.

In other action related to the bankruptcy settlement, the Davenport diocesan headquarters buildings and the 48.5 acres on which they sit are for sale for $3.5 million, according to a real estate listing. The amount is $400,000 less than the estimated value as stated in the bankruptcy settlement agreement between the diocese and its creditors.

The property must be sold as part of the diocese’s $37 million bankruptcy settlement.

According to the listing, more than 57,000 square feet of buildings house 21 apartments, one duplex, offices, workshops, four multicar garages, a chapel, meeting rooms, a gym and more.

Because diocesan officials deeded the property to the bankruptcy court last year, decisions concerning the property’s future belong to Berger.

“We’re now aware the property has been put on the market and that a real estate firm has been selected,” said Msgr. John Hyland, the diocese’s vicar general. “The diocese had nothing to do with the selection process.”

The diocese will have at least 90 days after a sale is completed to move. Eleven priests live at the St. Vincent Center and 40 people work there.

Maaske said a task force had been formed some time ago to look at properties that would be suitable for diocesan headquarters. No final decisions have been made.

SHOUTING JOYFULLY — Members of the Sister Thea Bowman Diocese of Rockville Centre Gospel Choir sing during a special Mass for Catholics of African ancestry at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, N.Y., recently. The annual Mass of thanksgiving coincides with the national observance of Black History Month. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz, Long Island Catholic)

‘Rhetorical restraint,’ careful study urged in assessing liturgy

WASHINGTON — In an effort to stem what some have called “the liturgy wars,” a liturgy expert has urged Catholics to use “rhetorical restraint, careful historical and theological research, and assessments that respect the ways in which the Western liturgy has evolved and continues to evolve.”

Msgr. Kevin Irwin, dean of theology and religious studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington, made the comments in a lecture titled “Which Liturgy Is the Church’s Liturgy?”

He said the current discussion on liturgical issues has found a home in the blogosphere, which he politely described as a climate that is not always as “upbuilding for the Church as it might be.”

Liturgical hot topics he mentioned included Pope Benedict XVI’s opening the way to wider use of the Tridentine Mass; the publication of a revised English translation of the Roman Missal, which is not anticipated for several more years; and a proposal to move the sign of peace to a different part of the liturgy, possibly after the prayer of the faithful.

The priest pointed out that minor liturgical changes are nothing new, but they also do not come about without a great deal of

thought and discussion. For example, he said the singing of “Kyrie eleison” (“Lord have mercy”) dates to fourth-century Jerusalem, but the phrase was modified 100 years later and then again in the sixth century.

Other slight modifications in liturgy have been made to accommodate different religious communities or cultural factors, he said.

Put another way, he noted that although the structure of liturgy “has an inherent logic, that does not mean that ‘one size fits all.’”

Then came the Second Vatican Council.

“It has been argued that the post-Vatican II liturgical reforms were the most dramatic and far reaching (of) any in the history of the Church,” Msgr. Irwin said, noting that “every liturgical rite underwent changes.”

He said it was during the sessions of Vatican II and “then stated in post-Vatican II documents, that when it comes to language the bishops of territories that use the same vernacular should be responsible for a common translation.”

The International Commission on English in the Liturgy, known as ICEL, was established and the commission served local bishops conferences by offering adapta-

tions to the liturgy and to the translations, he explained.

Msgr. Irwin said he does not think all of ICEL’s recommendations convey the best possible meaning. For example, he said he found ICEL’s text for the memorial acclamation to be used in addition “to the three Latin acclamations to be sung ... somewhat problematic.”

He was referring to the text: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”

“There is a world of difference, I would argue, between ‘Lord by your cross and resurrection you have set us free ...’ and the assertion ‘Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again,’” he said.

But the text has “staying power,” he said, noting that in June 2005 the U.S. bishops voted to keep it when the revised Roman Missal “is promulgated for use.”

Last year, during their annual fall meeting, the U.S. bishops approved a section of the English translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal, which now awaits confirmation by the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

The remaining sections of the missal, as translated by ICEL, will come before the U.S. bishops in 2009 and 2010.

At the bishops’ meeting, Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship, called the translation “a step forward in the continual renewal of the liturgy.”

“It is not a voyage into history to observe what happened then and there,” he said. “Rather it is our present and ongoing experience of saving mysteries than cannot be confined to the historical past only.”

February 27, 2009

The Church in the U.S.

IN A NEW YORK STATE OF MIND — Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee visits with children at the Vijay Sadan convent in Bhagmara in India’s Orissa state in this Jan. 6, 2009 photo. Archbishop Dolan has been appointed archbishop of New York by Pope Benedict XVI. (CNS photo/Amiran White, Catholic Relief Services)

New leader meets archdiocese he calls ‘snapshot’ of universal Church

NEW YORK (CNS) — Calling the diverse New York Archdiocese “a real icon, a snapshot of the Church universal, of the Church in the United States,” Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan pledged his life, his heart and his soul to the people of the archdiocese February 23.

Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Dolan, head of the Milwaukee Archdiocese since 2002, to succeed the retiring Cardinal Edward M. Egan. He is to be installed as New York archbishop April 15.

At a press conference in the New York Catholic Center, Archbishop Dolan said, “I can tell you already that I love you. I need so much your prayers and support. I am so honored, humbled and happy at the prospect of serving as your pastor.”

As pastor, he said he has “a sacred mandate to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how the Church transmits his mystery, his ministry and his invitation.”

He said the message is intended to serve everybody. “Nothing foreign is alien to us. That’s part of the Catholic chemistry. We’re not just sacristy, not just sanctuary, not just Sunday people.

“The Church through the ages has been a hyperkinetic partner of the arts, literature, health care and immigrants,” he added. “Look to us to continue that partnership.”

Archbishop Dolan promised to do whatever he could to affirm the priests of the archdiocese. “The vitality of this great archdiocese is in its parishes,” he said.

“The priests are on the front lines. I am their servant. You can count on me to help them.

“I look forward to being with the priests,” he added. “That’s not a chore; that’s a choice.”

Archbishop Dolan said in his role as pastor he would engage, rather than confront, public officials on the importance of respecting the civil rights of the most vulnerable, especially the unborn.

“I’d like to think it wouldn’t be limited to politicians,” he said. “I’d hold everybody accountable to the teachings of natural law and the Church I’m proud to represent.”

Archbishop Dolan said he based his leadership style on his mother’s advice to “be yourself.” He said bishops and priests

crave silence and have a deep, quiet center. “I hope from that comes a sense of joy and hope,” he added.

Archbishop Dolan said the Latino contribution of vitality and celebratory, joyful faith as well as a sense of pride in family is a “tonic to the Catholic Church in the United States.” He said the Church historically is the most successful, effective agency that welcomes immigrants and helps them become productive members of society and the New York Archdiocese has been a leader within the Church.

“What Lady Liberty is socially, holy mother Church has been spiritually when it comes to our beloved immigrants,” he said.

He said he wants to continue to improve his Spanish, which he said now allows him to celebrate Mass and the sacraments and preach “a very simple homily.”

Archbishop Dolan said bishops have to live in the real world and face the challenges of some people leaving the Church and others not participating in the sacraments.

“We’d be less than honest if we didn’t say we’ve got problems,” he said, but there have been struggles in the Church since the days of the Acts of the Apostles.

Archbishop Dolan said he and Cardinal Egan had spoken on the telephone to representatives of other religious groups in New York. He said he embraced ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and might be described as “energetic” in doing so in Milwaukee.

He said he is involved in Catholic-Jewish dialogue on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and finds it “intensely rewarding and enriching.”

Archbishop Dolan said Catholic schools in New York are “in great shape now” but are a constant concern. Speaking as a Church historian, he said keeping schools on a firm financial foundation has been a challenge from the beginning.

“There’s never been an easy time,” he said. “That’s part of our grit. We have to struggle for every dime and muster every ounce of strength to keep them strong.

Count on me to be a front-line cheerleader for Catholic schools.”

Archbishop Dolan said his heroes included Jesus Christ, Pope John Paul II and his parents.

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He sidestepped a question about proposed state legislation that would allow victims of clergy sexual abuse to file civil suits against the archdiocese. “That’s an area of such delicacy and precision that I’ll have to study it hard,” he said.

Cardinal Egan said Archbishop Dolan “has come here to deepen our faith, to lead us in prayer and guide us in the works of justice, compassion and peace. The Holy Father has chosen well.”

The cardinal said although some people had expected him to get involved in nonreligious, political issues, he chose to focus his efforts on parishes, charities, schools and health care and “the faith being announced.”

He said his “greatest sadness” was not having “done better with vocations.” He said the archdiocese was only now seeing a spurt in vocations, which might be attributed to a number of factors including the 2008 visit of Pope Benedict XVI to New York.

Cardinal Egan is the first archbishop of New York to retire. He said he would live in one of the parishes of the archdiocese and be available to his successor to celebrate Masses and officiate at funerals and confirmations.

“You’re hired,” Archbishop Dolan said.

“I’m glad you’ll be here. I need you.”

Asked if his Irish heritage was a factor in his appointment to a see that has traditionally been led by an Irishman, Archbishop Dolan quipped, “It’s a sign of the Holy Father’s infallibility.”

Cardinal Egan introduced Archbishop Dolan at the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Patrick’s, which they concelebrated. After Mass, they visited the crypt under the main altar where their predecessors are entombed.

After the press conference, Cardinal Egan and Archbishop Dolan addressed the staff of the New York Catholic Center at St. John the Evangelist Church, receiving a standing ovation.

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) — The Oregon province of the Society of Jesus has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection citing a number of pending lawsuits over clergy sexual abuse claims.

The petition was filed February 17 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon in Portland in response to 200 lawsuits filed recently against Jesuits of the province. The abuse claims are primar-

ily from Alaskans who said they had been abused as children by priests.

The Jesuits’ Oregon province, based in Portland, serves Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane said in a February 17 statement that he was “deeply saddened by reports of abuse of children by anyone, but especially abuse by priests.”

Jesuits’ Oregon province, facing abuse lawsuits, files bankruptcy

6

The Anchor Back to the fundamentals

During the past two weeks in Florida and Arizona, the world’s greatest baseball players have been fielding ground balls, catching pop-ups, laying down bunts, working on pick-off moves, taking relays from the outfield, and practicing doubleplays. It’s not that they don’t already know how to do this. Spring training, however, is a time to return to the basics, since if they don’t perfect the fundamentals, it’s going to be a long year on the diamond.

Lent is the time in which Catholics return to the fundamentals of the faith. It’s an occasion to focus our attention for 40 days on things that we’re supposed to be doing throughout the year, but that we can often do sloppily or not at all.

In the Gospel on Ash Wednesday, Jesus himself describes for us three fundamental practices we’re called to perfect with his support. These are the three the Church proposes to us each year.

The first is prayer. Jesus says, “Go … pray to your Father.” When we pray, we turn our attention to God and turn away from what keeps us from God. We listen to the Good News he whispers to us in mental prayer or through meditation on the Bible or in the rosary. We receive his strength to turn away from the temptations we encounter and embrace ever more the life he calls us to. We ultimately recall that we are made for God, for holiness, and for heaven and realign our priorities to put God first. Rather than fitting him into our day at the end if we have time, we resolve to center our whole lives on him. Therefore, in Lent, Jesus, through the Church he founded, calls each of us to increase the quality and the quantity of our prayer. We can do that by coming to daily Mass, where he teaches us with his Word and then feeds us with his flesh and blood. We can do that by praying the Stations of the Cross, in which the Lord strengthens us to pick up our daily crosses and follow him all the way home to heaven. We can do that by coming to adore him in the Eucharist whereby we accompany him in the desert and in Gethsemane.

The second practice is fasting. Jesus says, “When you fast….” Fasting, as all Catholics are called to do on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by norm and each of us is called to do in a way we determine throughout Lent, helps us to recall that our body of dust and its desires are not the most important thing. “Man does not live on bread alone,” Jesus will say to the devil in the desert, “but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). Sometimes we can live a life in which we just try to satisfy our hungers and desires, to go from one pleasure to another. We can shy away from the tougher parts of living our faith. Fasting allows us to subordinate our bodily desires and needs to those of our soul. It allows us to control our desires rather than let them control us. That is why oftentimes priests will encourage to fast those who are trying to overcome addictions — to alcohol, to drugs, to sex — because if they can learn how to control a desire that is necessary for survival, like eating, then they can also more easily grow to control desires for things that they don’t really need to survive, like drugs, sex or booze. The more we acquire the ability to say no to our desires, in other words, the easier it is to say yes to God and to more important things.

The third Lenten drill is to give alms. Jesus says, “When you give alms…” Very often the sins we commit flow from selfishness or egocentrism, from putting ourselves first. That is why the Lord commands us to give alms, which requires us to look toward others’ needs, not just our own; to love others in deeds and not just wish them well; to take responsibility for the welfare of others, for as often as we fail to do something for them, we fail to do it to Christ (Mt 25:45). Jesus, who gave everything for us down to his last drop of blood, tells us to follow him in this way, by giving of ourselves, our time and our material resources generously for others.

As we make our Lenten resolutions at the beginning of this 40-day interior pilgrimage, it’s important, first, to keep all three of these practices in mind. Making Lenten resolutions is not meant to be a multiple-choice test in which we select only one of the three fundamental practices to work on. We should make a resolution in each of these three areas, spurred on by a deep repentance for how we’ve so often marginalized God rather than prayed without ceasing; sought to satiate our desires rather than deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Jesus; and ignored or used others rather than loved them as Christ loves us. Just like baseball players in spring training need to work on all aspects of their game, one at a time, so we, too, need to focus on each of these fundamental areas of the Christian life. Otherwise we’ll be no more effective than a ball player who fields fabulously but throws wildly.

Secondly, we need to recall what is the purpose behind all of these practices: to become holy, to become Christ-like, to become a saint. Just like spring training is meant to lay the foundation for what every baseball player desires, a championship, so Lent is supposed to train us for the full season of life so that we might make the eternal hall of fame, not merely individually, but together with the teammates God has given us. The resolutions we make are meant to keep that in mind. Is giving up sweets or coffee during Lent a good penance? It’s certainly not harmful, but it’s hard to see how alone that will be enough to form the person on the road to holiness.

It needs to be admitted that a great deal of pusillanimity has crept into the way many of us make our Lenten resolutions. Christ calls us, rather, to be bold. He gives us this time as an annual three-a-day training camp during which — after the failures of past seasons — to train for holiness. It’s not enough to give up “something,” or to pray “a little more,” or to fill up a rice bowl for those in need.

It’s a time to respond to the offer of the Lord’s help to push ourselves beyond what we think capable, in order to be formed into the persons and team he created us to be.

It’s a time to be formed, precisely, into other Christs and into the Church.

February 27, 2009

The Gospel’s appealing voice and face

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sang a Te Deum early Monday morning from Rapid City, Iowa, who was still in love with when, after years of speculation, Pope a woman back home and was trying to figure out Benedict named Archbishop Timothy Dolan if the Lord was calling him to sanctity and to the of Milwaukee as the Archbishop of New York. sanctification of others through the sacrament of With many of my brother priests scattered marriage or the sacrament of holy orders; Christhroughout the country who trained under him topher Nalty, a gregarious and gifted lawyer from while he was rector of the North American Col- New Orleans, who had received a miraculous lege in Rome, I had been praying that he be ap- calling but who was battling each day to grow in pointed. He has the faith and gifts necessary to the virtue of chastity after having lived for years lead not merely the faithful in New York, but according to the flesh; and my twin brother Scot all American Catholics through his mediagenic and me, who intrigued Brian not merely for the presence, enormous personality, and presumed ways in which everyone seems to be fascinated influence as the shepherd of our country’s most by identical twins, but because of the contrast beprominent see, to a renewal of our faith. tween my having sensed a call to the priesthood The Catholic faith is often misunderstood from the age of four and Scot’s having perceived as a long series of prohibitions. The Church is a call only two years before. He was proposing to portrayed as against so much of what the world call the book “The New Men.” seems for. While this is of course a caricature, Once we had all consented to allow Brian’s sometimes the leaders of the Church, in exercis- regular intrusion into our lives and thoughts during their prophetic mission, focus so much on ing our first year in Rome, Msgr. Dolan sumcritical analysis of what’s wrong in the culture moned the six of us to the rector’s suite for a that they leave the impression that Catholicism meeting. He told us that he had heard from Brian is fundamentally contrarian.

Murphy that each of us had provisionally agreed Since his election, Pope Benedict has sought to participate in what he was trying to do. He exto dispel this notion. On various foreign trips, pressed his gratitude for our willingness to take journalists aboard the papal plane have asked on an extra burden as new men and for the courwhether he was preparing to pronounce jeremi- tesy that Brian had said we had shown him. He ads against polibriefly reviewed cies in the host his interactions country opposed with Brian over to the natural law the previous couor Church teachple of years in ing. The Holy order to convey Father has repeatthat he was conedly replied that, fident Brian was

By Father while sometimes a good reporter Roger J. Landry the Church can’t with no particuneglect mentionlar axe to grind ing the negative with the Church. aspects of particular developments, our fundaBut then he got to the real purpose of why he mental mission is to proclaim what, or Whom, had called us to the meeting. we’re saying “yes” to.

Before we began the year-long process of inIf there’s any priest in America capable of terviews, he wanted us to be clear about the costs. preaching the “good news” of the Catholic faith Each of us, he said, was going to get burned by with contagious enthusiasm and heart-piercing the book. Over the course of so many interviews, eloquence, it’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan. My we were all bound to say something we wish we fellow seminarians and I used to be on the edge hadn’t, or that would be misinterpreted, or that of our pews listening to his 45-minute rector’s would be poorly conveyed in the final product. conferences. They routinely combined pro- It’s rare that a reporter gets everything right even foundly beautiful insights into the Christian and for a short article, he said, despite the reporter’s priestly life, an enormous arsenal of powerfully best intentions; that human margin of error is goapposite stories, a poet’s dexterity with English ing to be multiplied over the course of a book diction, the cadence of the greatest orators, a length treatment. Something we say, or someguffaw-inducing sense of humor, and the moti- thing Brian Murphy will put in our mouths, just vational passion of a Vince Lombardi, all with won’t play well back home in our dioceses, he unmitigated and unfeigned joy. Even when he warned. None of us, he said, should be naïve needed to take us collectively to the wood shed, about the sufferings in store for us if we particihe broke us down only to build us up with the pate. encouragement that comes from the faith.

While acknowledging the costs, however, he Somehow I believe that on Monday morning the added he was convinced that priests and future great Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who coveted priests have to be willing to take risks to advance St. Patrick’s pulpit and occasionally filled it as a the Gospel. He cited the example of Pope John guest, was smiling that a preacher with a double- Paul II, who had just recently cooperated with portion of his spirit will soon mount the stairs of Tad Szulc on a biography, even though Szulc that hallowed pulpit and inspire a beaten down got some things spectacularly wrong. Though nation and beleaguered Church to climb with Szulc’s work was obviously not a home run, he him the stairs to heaven. said, using one of the sports metaphors for which One of the greatest lessons I learned from he’s famous, it was “at least a single that adArchbishop Dolan came at the beginning of my vanced the runner.” He told us with a smile that time at the North American College. During he was hoping that “The New Men” would be our orientation period, five of my classmates “at least a double,” but wanted us to be free to and I were approached by the Associated Press’ say yes or no.

Vatican correspondent, Brian Murphy. He was We all decided that we would put out into the seeking permission to shadow us for a year to deep with Msgr. Dolan. write a book on the experience of the first year Just as he predicted, we were all burned by of seminary in Rome. Self-described as a “born some particular phrases in the final work or by the and fled” Catholic, Brian hoped to describe for a literary style of the “reconstructed conversation” secular audience what are the issues that young that it employed. But in that first year after its men confront in transitioning to the seminary 1997 publication, the seven of us received about and what life is like behind seminary walls. three dozen letters from men who informed us After an initial meeting with the rector, who that the book had helped them get off the fence would likewise be featured, Brian ended up ap- in their own vocational discernment and enter the proaching six of us: Tam Tran, a studious Viet- seminary. If even one of them ended up becomnamese seminarian from Washington, D.C., ing a holy, hard-working priest, we said, our perwho had perilously escaped from Vietnam as a sonal lumps would have been worth it. boy with nothing but his Catholic faith; Gary Now it’s time for Timothy Dolan to lead not Benz, a nature-loving farmer from Bismarck, just a seminary or a huge archdiocese but in N.D., who, unaccustomed to the Roman smog some ways all Catholics in the country boldly to and noise, was fighting an interior battle to dis- put out into the deep with confidence that comes cern whether the Lord was calling him to the from the Gospel, that joyful, enthusiastic confitrenches of the diocesan priesthood or to the dence he exudes. relatively quieter and more peaceful harmonies It’s time to swing for the fences. of a Benedictine monastery; Brian Christensen, Father Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of an Air Force Academy grad and bomber pilot Padua Parish in New Bedford.

Putting Into the Deep

7

The Anchor

February 27, 2009

A Pauline examination of conscience

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ithin all of St. Paul’s Jewish literature, for example letters but a few (i.e., in Philo. The “Dead Sea 1 & 2Thessalonians and Philemon), one can find lists, or “catalogs,” of Living the virtues and vices. These Pauline Year do not make the Apostle stand alone as unique in the ancient world. In

By Father fact, they may reveal an Karl C. Bissinger influence on Paul from Stoic philosophy. Similar lists appear also in other Scrolls” at Qumran contain Hellenistic and Hellenistic/ them, too. So their inclusion in

St. Paul’s letters could simply demonstrate continuity in the Old Testament/ Biblical tradition.

Some scholars group the Apostle’s lists of virtues and vices into five categories. The one category that will interest us today, however, is the one meant to encourage believers to avoid vices and practice virtues. This rep-

Converted, catechized and connected

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vangelization is such a children’s catechetical program. broad term; do we even Though these adults are not the know what it is we are trying to unbaptized adults for whom the accomplish with this effort? We RCIA is designed, they are just know that we have a crying need as much in need of answers to to reach out to the baptized Cath- their questions about the Cathoolics who no longer walk with us lic faith. The Inquiry stage is on the journey to our salvation not just a question and answer and theirs. To put it in a simple, session, but is the perfect time Madison Avenue format, the goal for the person seeking answers of evangelization is to create an to hear a committed Christian adult Church that is converted, witness to his or her faith. This catechized and connected. is how conversion happens to an After years of devoting so individual on a search for God. much of our parish resources to Conversion is not a moment in catechetical programs for chiltime, however, but a life long dren, it has finally hit home that process. we have skipped a crucial step.

The next step in the RCIA This was pointed out when the is called the Catechumenate. In U.S. Bishops issued the National the early history of the Church Directory for Catechesis and it was common for people to go reminded us that the best model through a long period of study for faith formation in the parish is the RCIA process (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). By adapting all of our parish formation efforts to the RCIA model we will

By Claire McManus begin to create the adult Church we so desperately need.

If we carefully examine the of the Scripture, prayer, fasting, RCIA process, we may see a and service to others. A person in pattern that is helpful as we try to this stage, called a catechumen, apply it to our parish programs. is paired with a mature Christian There seems to be a pre-evanwho serves as the sponsor. Many gelization that takes place in the parishes cram everything into a individual that comes forward to nine-month academic year, but begin the steps towards entering the Catechumenate should take, the Church. This pre-evangeliat the very least, one year. If we zation takes many forms. Often apply the RCIA model to our a person has gone through a baptized adults we have no need life-changing experience that to rush the Catechumenate. Adult brings about a reflection on the catechesis can take place for as meaning of life, and God’s action long as the person wants to learn. in the moment. Other times, a Catechumens are baptized, person connects with the Church confirmed, and welcomed to the through their relationships. EiEucharist for the first time at the ther way, this is a moment when Easter Vigil. This is a special an invitation to come back to moment in which the Christian church falls upon receptive ears. community welcomes the new The next step in the RCIA members, and helps them to feel process is called the Inquiry. connected to the liturgy and to Having been invited to come the life of the parish. Connection back to church, the individual to the liturgical life of the parish begins to ask questions about the is the by-product of evangelizaCatholic faith, and wants to learn tion and catechesis. So often we more. Many of the adults in our try to create the connection to the parish are loosely connected to liturgy without paying attention the Church, usually by the fragile to the need to evangelize and string which ties them to their catechize the adults. Is it any

The Great Commission

wonder that we have such poor Mass attendance?

The final stage of the RCIA process is called Mystagogy, or to reflect on the mystery of the sacrament that has just taken place. Part of that reflection has to do with learning about how to live out the Christian life. It is also a time to reflect on how Christ is present in our lives.

Mystagogy should be a part of every activity of the parish. It happens whenever one takes time to reflect on where Christ was when a child is taught the faith, or when a needy person received food from the food pantry, or when a person came for help from the St. Vincent de Paul Society, or when the bereaved received a kind and sympathetic word.

In the dark and cold nights of this endless winter a group of more than 20 parishes representing the five deaneries came together to share successes and challenges to meeting the goal of evangelization. They identified those parish activities that seem to meet the goal of forming an adult Church that is converted, catechized, and connected. It was no real surprise to learn that the greatest success came from parishes that had formed strong teams of parishioners who were focused on forming adults through the RCIA, serving the needy through the St. Vincent de Paul Society, or ministering to the bereaved.

At the heart of their success was the core work of bringing people to a more intimate relationship with Christ. We need to learn more from each other’s successes and challenges. On March 28, we are inviting all parish leaders to come to Holy Name Parish in Fall River for a forum on the Best Practices in Adult Formation. Together we can attain the ultimate goal of creating an adult Church that is converted, catechized and connected.

Claire McManus is the director of the Diocesan Office of Faith Formation.

resents the predominant type in the Pauline letters anyway.

A discussion of this feature of St. Paul’s epistles logically flows from the previous articles on baptism and baptismal ethics. We are talking about the moral behavior of a Christian.

These lists could serve as the basis for a “Pauline Examination of Conscience” for the use of individuals.

Sometimes people go to confession and are not aware of their sins. They may think or even say, “I haven’t done anything really wrong.” Taking a look at these lists in the Apostle’s writings, however, can help one prepare for a fruitful examination of conscience at the end of the day or before making one’s confession in the sacrament of reconciliation. In this way, one could gain more appreciation for the riches contained in Paul’s works as well as reinforce the use of the Bible in daily Catholic practice. Here are the lists: Rom 13:13-14: “Let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”

Gal 5:19-23: “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and selfcontrol.”

1Cor 6:9-10: “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.” 2Cor 12:20: “I fear that I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish; that there may be rivalry, jealousy, fury, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.”

Eph 5:3-5: “Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no immoral or

impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Col 3:5, 8, 12: “Put to death the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Now you must put them all away: anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths. Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”

Cf. Ti 2:2-10, 3:2: “Be temperate, dignified, selfcontrolled, sound in faith, love, and endurance. Be reverent in your behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to drink, teaching what is good, and be chaste.

Show yourself as a model of good deeds in every respect.

Avoid back talk. Be peaceable and considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone.”

Eph 4:25-26, 28-29, 3132: “Putting away falsehood, speak the truth. Be angry, but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger. The thief must no longer steal, but rather labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with one in need. No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.”

Phil 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Hopefully, many will make use of this when preparing for the Season of Lent and during the current Pauline Year. There is also a diocesan-wide Day of Reconciliation March 21-22.

May the words of St. Paul inspire and instruct us in living out the grace of our baptism and as we prepare for Easter.

Father Bissinger is vocation director of the Diocese of Fall River and secretary to Bishop George W. Coleman.

8

The Anchor

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t seems like only yesterday we were putting away Christmas decorations, wrapping paper and extra bows. Just two weeks ago, vases of flowers and heartshaped boxes of chocolates adorned crimson tablecloths with Valentine’s Day cards.

How quickly the stores have replaced red laced cards with the green of St. Patrick’s Day, soon to be replaced with the pastel cards of Easter. Somewhere between red, green and pastel exist cards with the violet and tan colors of Lent.

We have often heard there are only two certainties in life — death and taxes. We are often caught off guard when someone we know dies. Many seem caught off guard when April 15 rolls around each year; and still many question “Is it Ash Wednesday already?”

In this Sunday’s Gospel, upon rising from his Baptism

Death, taxes, and Lent

in the Jordan, Jesus is immeFather: “Not my will be done, diately driven into the desert but yours.” by the Holy Spirit. We might Like Jesus, there are times question why the beloved Son, when we all need to be alone, in whom the Father was so to contemplate “where we well pleased, is led out to an are” and discern where we arid, barren kingdom of sand. need to be. Our lives need Who among us would knowingly exile our own child to a hostile Homily of the Week environment, to live First Sunday among wild beasts and in Lent worse, to purposefully expose him to Satan,

By Deacon the tempter, himself?

David R. Boucher (Mk 1:11).

Jesus often went off to spend time in solitude to pray. It gave him constant reexamination, the the chance to look deep within kind we receive through himself, free from distracprayer as we discern the will tions. His solitary time was of the Father for each of us. a period of discernment in Lent provides us a unique which he was at times isolated opportunity, the same 40 days and at times ministered to by offered to Jesus, to engage in angels. It was a time spent the same spiritual desert exwith a purpose, helping him perience. We may spend time to emerge after 40 days with contemplating a job or career one conviction, uttered to the change, focusing on family is-

sues weighing heavily on our minds, or reflecting on our life to consider if God is calling us to a special vocation within the Church.

Twenty-seven men in our diocese, most of whom are married, last week began a formal program to discern God’s call to serve the Church as permanent deacons. What an extraordinary time of year to respond to his gracious invitation.

Lent is a time when all of us are called, like these men, to put aside the less important so we can examine the Father’s will for each of us.

Jesus emerged from his desert experience, once empty but now filled, to begin his mission proclaiming the Gospel to lead people to God. St. Paul reminds us that Christ suffered once for our sins so that he might lead us

to God (1Pet3:18). These 40 days urge us to reexamine our life, an experience which can certainly tax our conscience.

When we place a moral compass in the palm of our hand, does it point to Jesus or away from him?

Lent calls us to die to those sinful ways and encourages us to ask God to remove the obstacles and temptations that lead us to the dry, lonely feeling we have when we are separated from him by sin. We are encouraged to empty ourselves physically and emotionally during Lent by spending time in the presence of God, sitting quietly or walking on a trail or along the water’s edge.

Let God guide us as he guided his Son through the desert and the empty temptations so we may be ready to experience the joy of Easter.

Deacon Boucher serves at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Feb. 28, Is 58:9b-14; Ps 86:1-6; Lk 5:27-32. Sun. Mar. 1, First Sunday of Lent, Gn 9:8-15; Ps 25:4-9; 1 Pt 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15. Mon. Mar. 2, Lv 19:1-2,11-18; Ps 19:8-10;15; Mt 25:31-46. Tues. Mar. 3, Is 55:10-11; Ps 34:4-7,16-19; Mt 6:7-15. Wed. Mar. 4, Jon 3:1-10; Ps 51:3-4,12-13,18-19; Lk 11:29-33; Thu. Mar. 5, Est C:12,14-16, 23-25; Ps 138:1-3,7c-8; Mt 7:7-12. Fri. Mar. 6, Ez 18:21-28; Ps 130:1-8; Mt 5:20-26.

I

Reconciliation, forgiveness, hope – and Lent

t was Mardi Gras night, 1995, and I found myself sipping bourbon at 40,000 feet over the Atlantic, en route to Rome where I’d been asked to address an international symposium on the recent Cairo World Conference on Population and Development; there, you may recall, adroit Holy See diplomacy prevented the Clinton Administration from getting abortion-on-demand declared a fundamental human right, equivalent to religious freedom or free speech. On Ash Wednesday morning, I set

off in search of an Englishblurt out in response, “What language Mass and soon found did you say?” myself at Santa Susanna, Whatever Father X’s Rome’s American “parish” intentions, his admonition near the Piazza della Repubblica. The noon Mass was packed with local Anglophones, with whom I queued up after the homily to receive ashes. What followed was one of the

By George Weigel shocks of my life.

“Be reconciled to yourself this Lent,” the priest intoned, imposing the was a piece of psychobabble ashes. To which I could only that badly misconceived the spiritual wisdom of the Ash Wednesday liturgy. The kernel of that wisdom is contained in the liturgy’s second reading, 22 Barstow St., Mattapoisett MA 02739 from St. Paul’s Second Letter Saturday, 7 March 2009 ~ (508) 758-3719 to the Corinthians. There, Paul 8:10 am Church Hall: Fatima Video Presentation. gives his apostolic mission a 9:15 am Church: Procession of Our Lady, Angelus, Crowing Cer- remarkable definition: under emony, Sung Litany of Loreto, The 5 Joyous Mysteries. taken in this “acceptable time,” 10:20 am Mass of Our Lady: Celebrant and Preacher, Fr. Dominic, FI. it is a mission of reconcilia11:30 am Lunch break. (please bring a bag lunch) tion, and through it the good 12:30 pm Exposition and Procession of Blessed Sacrament.

12:55 pm Sermon on “Sorrows of Our Lady: Coredemption from the news is proclaimed that God

inside out” by Fr. Rafael, FI. Silent Adoration. has reconciled the world to 1:30 pm Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord. himself, restoring man’s lost 2:00 pm Break communion with his creator 2:20 pm The 5 Glorious Mysteries. Act of Consecration. Benediction. through the gift of the Son. 3:15 pm Enrollment in the Brown Scapular and Conferment of Miraculous Medal. Procession

of Our Lady.

The Greek verb used to describe this reconciliation has Confessions available throughout the day a particular edge to it: for what A DAY WITH MARY is being “reconciled” is not a A DAY WITH MARY is an open day of instruction, devotion bank statement and a check and intercession based on the message given by Our Lady of book, but a relationship — a Fatima in 1917. It is a day of prayer held in Catholic churches or relationship of love, broken by shrines and open to all. It emphasizes worship of the Blessed betrayal. Through that verb, Sacrament and devotion to Our Lady. You are welcome to join the event for a little while or for the whole day.

Paul hammers home to gentile

St. Anthony’s Parish

The Catholic Difference

Corinthians a theme dear to the Old Testament Hebrew prophets: The relationship between God and humanity is not like that of a dictator and his subjects, or a master and his slaves; rather, God’s relationship with us is best understood by analogy to love. And the reconciliation that God wishes to achieve in Christ is the kind of reconciliation that follows infidelity in love.

This, and not some psychobabble about self-regard, is the reconciliation to which the journey of Lent calls us.

Lent is the “acceptable time” in which we should seize every opportunity to confront our infidelities: not to wallow in guilt, but because recognizing the truth of our fallenness is the first, essential step toward reconciliation with those we have wounded and with God. The great Charlton Heston was once asked the secret of his long, happy marriage to Lydia; the man who had played prophets, kings, and presidents said, in so many words, “It’s not very difficult; you just have to be able to say, ‘I’m sorry, I was wrong.’” The inability to say that — or, more properly, the lack of a Someone to whom that can be said, a Someone with real authority to forgive — has cultural, not

only personal, consequences.

In his 2003 apostolic letter, Ecclesia in Europa, the Servant of God John Paul II noted the sense of cultural malaise that permeated 21stcentury Europe — and then linked it to the basic human need for forgiveness: “One of the roots of the hopelessness that assails many people today is ... their inability to see themselves as sinners and to allow themselves to be forgiven, an inability often resulting from the isolation of those who, by living as if God did not exist, have no one from whom they can seek forgiveness.” And what is true of Europe is also true of America, which is Europe transplanted: if there is no one to whom we can turn for forgiveness, we will turn in on ourselves — and we will find there no satisfying agent of absolution. Self-reconciliation is self-delusion.

Thus one good way to live this “acceptable time” of Lent is to discover anew the graces of the sacrament of reconciliation. Through those graces, we, like Paul’s Corinthians, can become in Christ the “righteousness of God.” Doing that is what keeps hope alive.

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Light dawns on marble head

who were born in the company Monday 23 February — hospital. There were company Three Mile River — National fire and security departments, Personal Chef Day (formerly a company railroad line, and a observed in July) company store. “I owe my soul ur town once prided to the company store,” as Tenitself in having the world’s largest textile mill. North Dighton — like Hershey, Penn.

— was a company Reflections of a town, although I don’t Parish Priest believe we ever had street lamps shaped

By Father Tim like giant foil-wrapped Goldrick chocolate kisses as they do in Hershey. nessee Ernie Ford would later Many of the residences, from workers’ bungalows to the man- sing.

Speaking of souls, this sions of high-level management, church was built in 1936 on were built for textile-related land, they say, donated by the housing. Architectural details company. It was dedicated to a repeat in homes all over town. patron saint that happened to be I still meet parishioners

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The Ship’s Log

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The Anchor

February 27, 2009

the name-saint of the company president. The front door of the church overlooks the former company headquarters, now largely abandoned or razed.

A well-to-do Victorian family built the house in which I live. One thing puzzled me. Why is the main door of my rectory not facing the street? Having lived here for one full winter and most of another, light dawns on marble head. The location of the house has to do with maximizing natural light before the days of electricity.

The original homebuilders had a daily routine based on which room had the most sunlight at certain times of the

The wisdom of compassion

There should be certain ne difference berestraints in place, for examtween men and ple charity must always be women that I’ve often heard used in discussing the third repeated in varying contexts parties, and no one can ever is their response to sufferfully know the motives of ing. In particular, they seem others. Neither can one know to approach the anxiety that how the permissive will of accompanies tragedies or God and can turn events to personal crises in differthe good even in the darkest ent ways. Men care deeply, settings. women will admit, but they One must also remember often seem pragmatic and that emotions are not sinful prefer to focus on ways to — they simply are. To feel fix things. Indeed, the men things deeply is commendseem generally puzzled that able and often out of our women are not comforted by control. The response to the their efforts to offer solutions.

I’ve found many such solutions eminently sensible and good — but that misses the point.

Often when women

By Genevieve Kineke grieve over a situation, they simply want company. They feelings is where we stray want compassion in the into right and wrong, and proper sense of the word: “to sharing the difficult circumsuffer with.” For men, the stances can shed light on the thought of “hand-wringing” best response and provide over a set of circumstances the moral support to do the appears useless and idle. right thing when the opporIt is not. tunity arises. Thus a good The clucking and fussing Christian friend will remind over an injury or a loss is her companion of all these an essential part of grievthings at the appropriate ing, if not allowed to run time, curbing any tendencies into maudlin sentimentality. to judge or despair.

Whether a love affair has Compassion should be ended, a threatening tumor embraced according to the has returned, or a child has example Jesus offered, begone astray — the details ginning with his incarnation are often picked at like a and ending with his sacrifitapestry in need of repair. To cial death. “This misery [the share these moments with consequence of original sin] one or more dear friends is elicited the compassion of a common feminine habit, Christ the savior, who willand they’re not looking for solutions as much as they are ingly took it upon himself and identified himself with striving to understand our the least of his brethren” human condition.

The Feminine Genius

(CCC, 2448). Love therefore encompasses the decision to share in the life of the beloved, and certainly being present amidst the storms of life is a critical part of friendship.

Besides the graces made available when our sufferings are joined to the passion of Christ, we are also given tremendous riches to add to our storehouse of wisdom, making us all the more helpful when others look to us for support. I confess to a nearly vulture-like habit upon encountering those who have weathered enormous crosses. “What did you learn?” is my inevitable question, slipped in as gently as possible at the most opportune pause. Then is usually where the hidden treasures come spilling out, often wrapped in hushed and reverent awe.

I recall one startling answer, having met an old friend who gave me the details about a most horrific family crisis, now thankfully passed like a bygone storm. At the close, I asked the usual question, hoping for a nugget to share.

“Nothing,” she said with a puzzled look. “I’m just so glad it’s over.” Despite the happy outcome, I walked away sad. The compassion gave room to its lesser form, leaving only pity.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books). She can be found online at www.femininegenius.com.

day. There is an upstairs and a downstairs morning room. The upstairs morning room has an oversized window facing east.

The room was originally designed for family use only. My immediate predecessor, Father Jim McClellan, used it as a prayer room. Father Dave Costa used it as a sitting room. I use it as my work office. It’s cheerfully sunny in the early morning (when I do most of my writing).

I imagine the family who first lived in this house converged on the upstairs morning room while they prepared to face the new day.

Gathering their wits about them and dressed to the nines, they descended the grand staircase, passing the nine-foot Palladium window, and turned right into the downstairs morning room, with its 12-foot ceilings. Here one greeted guests.

In Victorian times, most visitors arrived in the morning. They would approach the piazza by the slatted wood walkway, use the elaborate iron boot scraper if necessary (it’s still there), present their calling card to the butler at the door and be ushered into the morning room.

The downstairs morning room (or ladies’ parlor) has windows on three sides — eight windows all told. Again, it faces east. It’s the sunniest room in the house. The women would linger in the morning room to read, work on their embroidery, or chat. It was a “Great Gatsby” life. The room makes a fine space for my potted plants, but otherwise I have no need for a ladies’ parlor.

If guests arrived at 4 p.m. teatime, the formal parlor was just across the hall. I seldom drink tea. I never sit in the parlor. I keep the doors closed.

On the other hand, maybe in the summer they would take their tea on the piazza. I like the piazza.

The evening meal was served in the dining room. It would have been a formal occasion, with a bell to summon the servants from the kitchen. The formal dining room faces west and thereby maximizes the afternoon sun. I use the room on rare occasions, like the visit of a bishop.

After dinner, the women would withdraw to the adjacent room, aglow with gas and kerosene lamps. They called this the drawing room (which has nothing to do with pencil sketching but rather “withdrawing”). Servants would clear the table and the men would light their cigars and discuss business. Once the men had solved all the problems of the world, they would join the women in the drawing room. This is a large but cozy double room with a fireplace. The fireplace fooled me. I thought it was marble, but it’s painted plaster, as Deacon Tom Palanza, diocesan facilities consultant, informs me. He calls it “faux.” I call it “fake.” At any rate, the fireplace was sealed decades ago. I spend most of my time in the drawing room, entertaining my three adopted greyhounds.

Gradually the dinner guests would depart, leaving the family to retire to their private quarters. The upstairs master suite has its own private sitting room. The room is no longer in use. The routine would have been repeated day in and day out. People of means lived this way.

It was once a fashionable lifestyle, I suppose, but it’s long-gone. Nobody lives this way anymore — certainly not yours truly. How many parlors does one guy need in this day and age? If a room is dark, I just flip the light switch.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton.

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Playing those mind games

I

saw a marathon runner on TV this week and he said that running the 26.2-mile distance is 95 percent mental and the other five percent is all in your head.

At least his math was a bit better than Yogi Berra’s: “Baseball is 90 percent mental — the other half is physical.”

Tiger Woods returns to the links this week after undergoing anterior cruciate ligament surgery on his left knee last June 24. For an athlete, ACL surgery is one of the most serious of knife jobs. Just ask Tom Brady.

My View From the Stands

By Dave Jolivet Golf pundits are wondering how Tiger will fare at the World Golf Classic in sunny Arizona this weekend, and beyond. Some say the biggest obstacle Tiger will have to overcome will be the doubt in his mind — will the knee hold out?; will it blow out again?; will there be pain?; will it affect my swing?

They seem to forget that Eldrick is his given name. He earned the label “Tiger.”

I believe Tiger Woods will return to prowl golf courses all across the world with the same ferocity, tenacity, and relentless-

ness as the animal for which he’s named.

Remember, Tiger won last year’s U.S. Open with one good knee and one terribly painful knee.

When he plays a round of golf, he has that look in his eye ... the eye of the tiger.

Woods will be just fine, and it will be nice to watch golf again.

It was nowhere near the same without him.

Injuries can play head games, only when the heart isn’t big enough.

I’m reminded of a time when I was 11 years old. Just as summer vacation began I fell out of a tree and broke my left arm. I got up to brush myself off. I felt little pain — until I saw my arm — it was a cross between a pretzel and a road map. That’s when I let out a blood-curdling scream.

I spent five days in the hospital and was in a cast all summer.

Sometime in October, they cut off the cast with shears that looked like they could cut down a tree. I had one in mind.

After such a horrendous injury, was I a head case? Are you kidding? I haven’t been in a tree since, and that could have been the advent of my fear of heights. But after all, my nickname wasn’t Tiger. In fact, it was Jelly. Go figure.

When it comes to helping out his parish, Attleboro businessman ‘just does it’ B y Michael Pare A nchor Correspondent

works as a printing consultant. He and his wife, Dianne, have two grown sons, Kevan II SOUTH ATTLEBORO — It is as if the and Timothy. question doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to St. Theresa’s has been important to his famKevan Higgins. He ponders it a while. But a ily, part of the fabric of their lives together. direct answer does not come easily.

And isn’t that how it is supposed to be? To The question is this: Why do you spend so Higgins, it’s simple. It always has been. As a much time volunteering for your parish, St. Catholic, you do things a certain way. And alTheresa of the Child Jesus? ways, you do things for others.

After a pause, Higgins borrows a line from “When I was a kid I was an altar boy,” he that famous Nike marketing campaign. When said. “And I’ve gone on from there. It’s always it is for the Church, he says, you just do it. made sense to do things for the Church.”

“When it is for our parish, there are no There is something else that drives Higgins’ questions asked,” he says. commitment to parish activities. You see, HigNow, when that volunteering involves golf, gins is one of those people who puts a high Higgins is quick to depriority on friendship. flect any praise for his And Father James Faefforts. For example, hey, pastor at St. Therunning St. Theresa’s resa’s, has become a annual golf tournafriend. ment, which Higgins Higgins credits Fahas been doing for ther Fahey with fosmany years, is a true tering a real spirit and labor of love. Higgins energy in the parish. loves everything about A self-starter himthe sport and so he’d self, Higgins likes that hardly call running the sense of energy. And tournament work. so when Father Fahey “It’s a simple thing, needs help with somereally,” he says. thing, he doesn’t have A member of Highto ask twice. land Country Club, And their friendship Higgins said that once is real. Real enough he sets a date for the that Higgins seizes any tournament, always a opportunity to beat his Monday, a week or two friend in a round of after Labor Day, things golf. Up a stroke or fall into place. two with a hole to go, “Get your four- ANCHOR PERSON OF THE WEEK — Kevan Higgins is trying his somes ready,” Higgins Higgins. best to drain that putt. tells his fellow parishAnd Father Fahey, ioners. as far as we know, has resisted the urge to seek And they do. out any help from above. Chipping out of a trap “There is a real camaraderie,” he says. is as difficult for the pastor as it is for anyone “People want to be involved. And I enjoy do- else. Father Fahey describes Higgins as “an alling it. It’s fulfilling.” around good guy,” even when he is beating him Well, perhaps the golf tournament is an on the golf course. easy way for Higgins to help his parish. But “He has always been there when we need it is not the only way. His volunteer efforts do him,” says Father Fahey. “He is supportive in not stop on the fairways of Highland Country everything that we do.”

Club. Higgins serves on various parish comAnd you get the sense in talking to Father mittees, including the Finance Committee.

Fahey that the golf tournament is more work He also runs the kitchen each year for the than Higgins lets on. It is, after all, a signifiparish’s annual bazaar. That task, he says, cant undertaking and there are certain skill makes the golf tournament look easy. sets that are required to do it well.

“I’m the chef of the meat pies … usually Fortunately, Higgins has those skill sets. about 500 of them,” says Higgins.

“Kevan really knows how to get people inThe bazaar, simply put, “is hard work.” volved,” says Father Fahey. “He could sell ice “It’s hard work and at the end of the day, in Alaska. He’s a salesman in the best sense of you’re tired,” he said. “But everyone helps the word.” out. There is no bickering and in the end, evHiggins is asked the question again: Why eryone has fun. It’s hard work, but it is grati- volunteer for your parish? But he remains fying work.” stumped.

So why toil all those hours in the kitchen “I wish I could elaborate,” he says. year after year?

But really, there is no elaboration needed.

Because like the golf tournament, he says, When it is for the Church … it’s like the sloit’s for the parish. You don’t ask questions. gan says.

You just do it.

You just do it.

“There are usually about a dozen of us who To nominate a Person of the Week, send get together,” he says. “We enjoy it.” an email message to FatherRogerLandry@ An independent businessman, Higgins AnchorNews.org.

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The Anchor

February 27, 2009

Lenten meals provide families a chance to teach important lessons B y N ancy Frazier O’Brien C atholic News Service

WASHINGTON — It’s not always easy to bring family members together for a tasty, nutritious and affordable meal.

When Lent comes around, the need for meatless Fridays and the hope of teaching children about why Catholics fast and abstain from meat can make meal planning seem nearly impossible.

But two Catholic mothers in different parts of the country have a few solutions to offer.

“I think it’s very important that we do observe Lent as families, even though it’s not doctrinally required below a certain age,” said Lisa Hendey of Fresno, Calif., the mother of two teen-agers and founder of CatholicMom.com, a Website that offers a variety of free resources to Catholic parents.

Amy Heyd, a mother of three from Cincinnati, says meals can be a teaching moment at any time of year. She wrote her new book, “Saints at the Dinner Table” (St. Anthony Messenger Press), in part to bring lessons from the early days of the Church into the lives of her children today.

“I’m constantly trying to find ways to teach them about my faith and teach them to make good choices in life,” Heyd said. “They need to keep

relearning (about good choices) until it’s part of who they are.”

Hendey said it is important for Catholic children to know not only what they are expected to do during Lent, but why. “We link it to an act of service,” she said of the fam-

giving” when parents say, “We’ll take this and use it to help someone else who is not as blessed as we are,” Hendey added. “It’s not so much talking about what we’re doing without, as it is what we’re doing to help other people.”

Heyd — whose children

soup featured in Heyd’s book in a chapter on St. Margaret of Scotland.

St. Margaret, queen of Scotland, often welcomed groups of commoners into the royal castle during Advent and Lent, providing them with “magnificent feasts,” Heyd said. For

WHO NEEDS MEAT? — Howard Egger wipes the face of his five-year-old son, Charlie, during dinner. During Lent Charlie’s parents get him involved in cooking creative meatless meals on Fridays.

(CNS file photo)

ily’s simple, meatless meals on Fridays in Lent.

The money saved by keeping a meal simple or not going out to dinner as a family is donated to Catholic Relief Services’ Operation Rice Bowl or the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, she said.

“Kids can understand that

are in third, sixth and eighth grades — sometimes makes it a family project during Lent to take a meal to a needy friend or to a local soup kitchen or Ronald McDonald House.

They usually don’t do it on Fridays, however, so that they can provide “a good hearty meal” such as the meatball tortellini

that reason, the chapter on St. Margaret also includes a recipe for chocolate mint cake with vanilla cream — hardly appropriate for a sacrificial meal during Lent, Heyd noted with a laugh.

Hendey said her Friday meals during Lent sometimes focus on a concept rather

than a recipe. She might offer her teen-agers the fixings for “build your own veggie pizza,” a baked potato bar or fondue.

CatholicMom.com, the Website Hendey founded in late 1999 as “my personal response to Pope John Paul II’s call to live out the faith” during the jubilee year, offers dozens of meatless recipes contributed by visitors to the site.

The site also includes downloadable Religious Education materials for all ages, ranging from word searches to coloring pages to lesson plans geared to a variety of feast days, sacraments or Bible events. Hendey records a weekly podcast with a Catholic author, entertainer or personality and more than two dozen columnists offer their views on a wide range of topics.

“It’s not a business, and I don’t intend for it ever to be a business,” Hendey said.

But the years since the founding of CatholicMom.com also have brought changes in the Hendey household. Six years ago, 17 years after Lisa and Greg were married, he became a Catholic.

“That was such a blessing for our family,” she said. “I still get a lump in my throat every time I see him go to Communion.”

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The Anchor

February 27, 2009

A time of reckoning

ecently, the Legion of Christ has acknowledged that its founder, Father Marcial Maciel, lived a double life and fathered a child. His religious community is, though, to all appearances, a flourishing one: Together with its associated lay movement Regnum Christi, it has done a lot of good in the service of the Church.

This development seems unprecedented in Church history. Usually, a religious order’s founder is either canonized or canonizable (think of St. Francis and the Franciscans, St. Ignatius Loyola and the Jesuits, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and the Missionaries of Charity). But in this case the founder of a religious congregation fully approved by the Church is, just a year after his death, certified as a hypocrite.

To be sure, the news can hardly be a total surprise to those who have followed the Maciel story over time.

In 1997, the Hartford Courant ran a series of articles that charged Maciel with having sexually abused a

Judge For Yourself

By Dwight Duncan number of young seminarians, who eventually left the Legion. Maciel issued an indignant and total denial of the charges. In 2005 he retired because of age from his position as Superior General of the Legion.

In May of 2006, the Vatican’s Press Office issued a statement that reported on what happened to the canonical case against Father Maciel, because since 1998 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had been receiving related complaints charging him with sexual abuse and even abuse of the sacrament of penance by absolving accomplices. The Vatican reported that “the then Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, authorized an investigation of the charges.” In the meantime, Pope John Paul II died and Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI. The Congregation then decided, “taking account of both the advanced age of Father Maciel as well as his bad health, to avoid a canonical trial and to invite him to a private life of prayer and penance, renouncing all public ministry. The Holy Father approved these decisions.”

At the same time, the Vatican Press Office’s communique recognized “with gratitude, independent of the person of the Founder, the praiseworthy apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ and of the Association Regnum Christi.”

The action was widely taken at the time as a tacit acknowledgment by the Church of the truth of at least some of the grave charges against Maciel. If there wasn’t a formal trial, that was to spare a sick old man, and perhaps more importantly, the group he founded, the trauma

of a definitive public sentence that he was a pedophile. Had he wanted to, Maciel could have insisted on a formal trial before the penalty was imposed. Clearly, the Holy See wanted to distinguish the person of the founder from the good people and good works of the order.

The statement that the Legion’s Press Office issued at that time in response to the Holy See’s action was ambiguous on the question of his guilt, but left a clear impression that he had gotten a bum rap: “Facing the accusations made against him, [Father Maciel] declared his innocence and, following the example of Jesus Christ, decided not to defend himself in any way. Father Maciel, with the spirit of obedience to the Church that has always characterized him, has accepted this communique with faith, complete serenity and tranquility of conscience. The Legionaries of Christ and the members of the Regnum Christi, following the example of Father Maciel and united to him, accept and will accept always the directives of the Holy See with profound spirit of obedience and faith.”

People sympathetic to the Legion and Regnum Christi were thus encouraged to view Father Maciel like Jesus Christ, who was falsely accused, or a latter-day Padre Pio, who had himself been suspended by the Vatican during his lifetime but was ultimately vindicated when he was canonized. Flattery got them nowhere: “Following the example of Father Maciel” is now a very dubious proposition, particularly given that there seem to be numerous unacknowledged victims of his duplicity.

I hope and pray that the Legion and Regnum Christi can successfully save their apostolates and extricate their charism, which Wikipedia helpfully describes as “the particular grace granted by God to religious founders and their organization which distinguish them from other organizations within the church,” from the grave faults of their founder.

While my first-hand experience with them is quite limited, as I only know well an exemplary woman in Regnum Chrisi and know none of the Legionaries, I am sure that there are some very good and holy people involved, who must be deeply pained by these developments.

Extricating an authentic charism from a flawed founder has got to be the ecclesiastical equivalent of brain surgery, and it is a very delicate operation. On the other hand, Pope Benedict is just the man to do it. He began doing it in 2006.

For those interested in following this story, I recommend the Catholic blog www.americanpapist.com.

Stay tuned.

Dwight Duncan is a professor at Southern New England School of Law in North Dartmouth. He holds degrees in civil and canon law.

DOING TIME — Tyler Perry stars in a scene from the movie “Madea Goes to Jail.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Lionsgate)

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following is a capsule review of a movie recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“Fired Up!” (Screen Gems) Banal sex comedy in which two philandering high school football players (Nicholas D’Agosto and Eric Christian Olsen) attend a mostly female cheerleading camp, racking up conquests till one falls for the captain of his squad (Sarah Roemer) and the other for the wife (Molly Sims) of the head coach (John Michael Higgins).

Director Will Gluck’s feature debut treats the pursuit of sexual gratification as just another sport, and most of the attempts at humor are tasteless as well as flat-footed. Nongraphic nonmarital and adulterous sexual activity, homosexual comic elements, brief rear nudity, much sexual humor, underage drinking, frequent crude and crass language, and a few uses of profanity. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail” (Lionsgate) Intermittently amusing sequel in which the outsized antics of the comically wayward titular matriarch (Tyler Perry) are interspersed through a sober drama about an Atlanta assistant district attorney’s (Derek Luke)

effort to reclaim a childhood friend (Keshia Knight Pulliam) who’s become a drug-addicted prostitute, despite the objections of his pampered fiancee (Ion Overman). Perry, who also wrote and directed, lacks a subtle touch and indulges in a few mild impieties, but he also pays tribute to the redeeming effects of faith and forgiveness, especially through the character of a dedicated minister (Viola

Davis). Prostitution theme, offscreen rape, a scene of physical abuse, drug use, some sexual and slightly irreverent humor, a few crass words and at least one use of profanity. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III — adults.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned.

Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, March 1 at 11:00 a.m.

Scheduled celebrant is Father David C. Frederici, in residence at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville, chaplain at Cape Cod Hospital and Cape Cod Community College, and diocesan chaplain of Scouting

February is Catholic Press Month.

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news briefs

U.S. cardinal says displaced Georgians are resentful, face challenges BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) — Georgians displaced by the August conflict with Russia feel some resentment against the Georgian government and are challenged by trying to find jobs in their new provinces, said a U.S. cardinal who visited them. “There’s a lot of unemployment and a lot of resentment against the government, because they feel the government caused this to happen,” said Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington. Some 100,000 Georgians have “lost their lands, their homes,” because of the war in the northern provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, he said. “War is never the answer,” said Cardinal McCarrick, who as a member of the board of the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Relief Services visited Georgia in February. Speaking to Catholic News Service in Beirut, where he attended the recent installation of Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan, Cardinal McCarrick said most of the displaced Georgians “are not welcome to go back” to their homes in northern Georgia.

Pope names Nigerian cardinal to lead Lenten retreat VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI has asked the former head of the Vatican’s worship and sacraments congregation, Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, to lead his 2009 Lenten retreat. During the March 1-7 retreat, the 76-year-old cardinal will focus on the theme “The Priest Encounters Jesus and Follows Him.” Top Vatican officials also attend the annual retreat with the pope, who clears his schedule of all audiences for the week. The choice of the Nigerian cardinal comes the same year Pope Benedict is making an apostolic visit to Cameroon and Angola in March and presiding over a special Synod of Bishops for Africa in October. Cardinal Arinze is one of the three African cardinals the pope has named as his delegated presidents for the special synod. The cardinal also served as a delegate president during the 1994 Synod of Bishops for Africa. Cardinal Arinze was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1985. He served as head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments for six years until his retirement in December 2008. Before that, he had served as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue for 17 years. As a convert from a traditional African religion, the cardinal firmly advocates inculturation as a means of making Christianity less foreign to non-Westerners.

Scorsese planning movie on Japanese martyrs TOKYO (Zenit.org). — An Academy Award-winning director is planning a movie on Japanese Christians martyred in the 17th century, based on novel about a Portuguese missionary. Martin Scorsese will film the movie in New Zealand and release it in 2010, according to the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun. Names of actors linked to the project include Daniel Day-Lewis, Gael García Bernal and Benicio Del Toro. Scorsese is known for his work on films including “The Age of Innocence,” “The Departed,” “Gangs of New York,” “Casino” and the controversial “The Last Temptation of Christ.” The film on the Japanese martyrs is based on the book “Chinmoku” (Silence), by the Catholic Japanese author Shusaku Endo. The novel tells the story of a Portuguese missionary in Japan at the beginnings of the 17th century.

“Silence” refers to the silence of God before the cross of Christ, in telling of the missionary’s forced apostasy in the midst of horrendous torture. Endo (1923-1997) was baptized at age 12. His novels reflect his effort to show Christianity reconciled with Oriental culture, as well as his vision of human weakness, sin and grace. Among his other writings are “A Life of Jesus” and “Deep River,” in which he tries to present Christianity to the Asian mentality. On Dec. 10, 2008, nearly 200 Japanese martyrs from the same era as the plot of “Silence” were canonized. Japan is today less than one percent Christian, of which only about 450,000 are Catholics.

DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER FOCA POSTCARD CAMPAIGN UPDATE NUMBERS OF POSTCARDS FOR PARISHES WHO REPORTED SINCE FEBRUARY 20 ANCHOR LISTING GOOD SHEPHERD, MARTHA’S VINEYARD 242 OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION, NEW BEDFORD 225 HOLY NAME OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS, NEW BEDFORD 858 ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, NEW BEDFORD

402 ST. ANDREW THE APOSTLE, TAUNTON

1093 HOLY ROSARY, TAUNTON 431 19 PARISHES REMAINING UNREPORTED or NUMBERS NOT AVAILABLE (NNA) FOCA POSTCARD CAMPAIGN ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, ATTLEBORO; OUR LADY OF VICTORY, CENTERVILLE (NNA); ST. ANTHONY, EAST FALMOUTH; ST. MARY, FAIRHAVEN (NNA); ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA, FALL RIVER; ST. ANTHONY OF THE DESERT (MARONITE), FALL RIVER; GOOD SHEPHERD, FALL RIVER; OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE AT ST. JAMES, NEW BEDFORD; OUR LADY OF PURGATORY (MARONITE), NEW BEDFORD; SACRED HEART, NORTH ATTLEBORO; ST. MARY, NORTH ATTLEBORO; ST. NICHOLAS OF MYRA, NORTH DIGHTON; ST. MARY, NORTON; ST. MARY, SEEKONK; ST. PATRICK, SOMERSET; ST. MARY, SOUTH DARTMOUTH; ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, SWANSEA; ST. GEORGE, WESTPORT; ST. JOSEPH, WOODS HOLE.

I

The beauty contest

That’s what the communists once made the mistake of found anyway. In his autobiogremarking to a group of 12-year-old girls that their moth- raphy, Douglas Hyde, a leading British communist journalist ers are no longer as beautiful who converted to the Catholic as they were on their wedding day. Their outrage caught me by faith, describes how women surprise. It taught me something made lousy communists. Not many women would join their important about those girls. ranks in the first place, probably Their little quirk of blindness because they found it dehumanto their mothers’ fading glory izing. Few of those who joined meant they were mixing up the love they have experienced with would stay. Those who did remain usually became hardouter beauty. For them their ened “women of steel” within a mothers were beautiful, period, and nobody was going to tell them otherwise.

Wouldn’t it be great if we women could hold on to that same sense of beauty as we grow up, if we could perceive an inner beauty looking from

By Joan Kingsland the outside? Unfortunately, by social osmosis we’re imprinted with a more superficial concept. Physi- year, neither attractive to other women nor to the Marxist “men cal beauty and career success of steel” (“I Believed,” 158). seem to be the deciding factors for determining a woman’s self- The communists never came up with an adequate solution. worth.

No matter what a woman It’s either a sexy gazelle look may achieve through her career or the Barbie model. We’re bombarded from all sides by this path, we’re still only looking at an exterior level of doing and image of beauty, from cartoons obtaining. Any person’s real to advertising to movies. The dignity and happiness, however, skeletally-thin look of models ultimately resides within. doesn’t help much either, even So what are some elements if some fashion shows have banned size zero models. Who’s of inner beauty for a woman?

Pope John Paul II was on to surprised that millions of adolescent girls in the United States something when he praised suffer from anorexia or bulimia? the feminine genius. He meant by this a woman’s capacity to It’s a sign of our culture’s unwelcome and nurture the human healthy fixation on the exterior. person. Naturally he included Women feel strong pressure being a wife and mother in his to meet these unrealistic, often concept, but he also applied this digitally-enhanced standards.

Interestingly enough, it turns out quality to a woman in general.

He praised her, for example, for the average man is much more humanizing any work place. balanced in his expectations. In The woman has a special her scientific survey about how capacity to discern and bring young men think about women, out the best of the human person Shaunti Feldhan asked men in whatever situation she finds whether they were attracted to herself. Her innate warmth, women who didn’t fit the glamsensitivity and expansiveness our image presented by the mehelp her to perceive even the dia. Only 11 percent answered unspoken needs of others. She “No. I’m only attracted to the has the praiseworthy potential hot Sports Illustrated babe” of looking after and helping oth(For Young Women Only, 121). ers — in other words, of loving Though the other 90 percent do people. But in a dog-eat-dog care about a woman’s physical world, she may choose to supappearance, they also consider press that inclination. other interior qualities when it There’s a whole array of comes to feeling attraction to a other attractive interior qualipossible soul mate.

As far as career success goes, ties that men find alluring and that complement the woman’s women have progressed over capacity for loving and taking the last few decades and are care of the human person. For no longer only looking for job one there’s intelligence. She advancement as their main ingredient to fulfillment. More and could also be a great conversationalist. Though social graces more women also seek to make are sometimes neglected today, room in their lives for a family. there’s something so right about But just what is the recipe for successfully combining love a woman who shows poise and dignity in her bearing, graand work? While there’s no pat answer, it’s a good sign that this ciously knowing how to put others at ease and feel welcome question is being asked today. in her presence. And what about For a woman who pits ambition strength of character? Not the against love is in danger of loscold unappealing type as mening her feminine appeal.

Faithfully Feminine Fashion

tioned previously, but the kind that makes a woman courageous and noble while remaining gentle and good-hearted at the same time. Mother Teresa is a prime example. She demonstrated remarkable courage in calling a cease fire to the war in Beirut and in rescuing a group of children from a hospital caught in the crossfire. Yet she was tender towards every person she met, especially those who suffered.

Though one’s exterior presentation is definitely important, we lose out when we fixate on physical beauty or career advancement alone. We’re buying into a reductive model of womanly fulfillment. We fall for these mistakes even though the grand majority of men wish women would pay more attention to cultivating interior beauty. Ultimately, isn’t it a matter of a woman choosing between selfishly seeking her own happiness in appearances but not finding it; or of discovering happiness when she opens up to truly loving others?

Joan Kingsland, a consecrated woman of Regnum Christi, teaches theology at Mater Ecclesiae College in Greenville, R.I. This is the second in a sixpart series.

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The Anchor

Stonehill College offers daily Lenten reflections on Website continued from page one

tion,” Father Looney told The Anchor. “One of the joys of being a priest is being able to share one’s faith every Sunday in a homily and lay people don’t often have that opportunity. We thought it would be a great idea to give all members of the community from the different segments of the college the opportunity to share their faith with one another by reflecting on the Gospel.”

While Catholics celebrate Lent by attending Mass every week and special services on Ash Wednesday and during Holy Week, many don’t have the time or means to reflect on the season during each of the 40 days, so these daily postings provide that unique opportunity.

“It’s 40 different voices, so to speak, and 40 different people writing reflections, so you get that many different perspectives,” Father Looney said.

“It’s also something that people can access any time of the day — certainly our students keep hours that I don’t keep anymore — so they can click on it whenever they’re free to and spend a minute or two reading the Gospel passage and another minute or two to read the reflection. It’s a great way for them to think about how it applies to their own life and how does it get them closer to the Lord during Lent. It’s very accessible to our students, community and for anyone who has a computer.”

Stonehill senior Tim Gannon of New Bedford, who contributed one of the daily Website reflections during Advent, expressed his joy at being able to reflect on his own faith via this unique forum.

“I think a large part of spiritual growth comes from hearing what others have to say and reflecting on it,” Gannon said.

“This online reflection was a

great way to reach the Stonehill body of students, faculty and staff. I loved reading the reflections written by other students and faculty and staff members … and I felt a stronger connection with what other people had to say because I knew them personally as opposed to a faceless author.”

Junior Jana Rayworth said although she was initially hesitant to share her faith in such a public way, after thinking about it more she realized it might help others become a bit more introspective and see parallels to their own life and beliefs.

“I didn’t necessarily want others people to read about my personal thoughts on faith, but once I put more thought into the matter I realized maybe I could help others see faith in a different way,” Rayworth said.

“I also enjoyed reading other reflections because they gave me a different perspective on my own faith.”

In the first of the Lenten reflections, Stonehill College President Father Mark T. Cregan, CSC, offered meditation on Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18: “Many times when students receive their syllabi at the beginning of a semester, they feel overwhelmed with the amount of work they will have to do over the next 16 weeks. Papers

February 27, 2009 and presentations, exegesis and exams, looked at all at once, create the impression that students will never be able to do ‘all the work’ assigned for the semester.

“Likewise, when we gather on Ash Wednesday and we are invited to enter into the penitential season of Lent, we can feel overwhelmed. We recognize, at the same time, the goodness of God and our own sinfulness. We know how hard it is to change and turn away from behaviors and attitudes that can cause harm to ourselves and others. We know that the 40 days of Lent is not a very long period of time and that our need for conversion is great.”

Reflecting on the Gospel passage from Matthew 9:14-15, freshman Jessica Kennedy observes: “One of the things that we studied was Christ’s relationship to the Church through the metaphor of marriage between a bride and a groom. Correspondingly, when Christ refers to the bridegroom being taken away from the disciples, I thought of this as a foreshadowing of Christ’s crucifixion, when he would no longer be in the disciples’ presence until he resurrected.

“Once Christ left the disciples for those couple of days prior to his resurrection, they would then realize the importance and true meaning behind

February is Catholic Press Month: A good time to subscribe to

The Anchor P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722 theanchor@anchornews.org 508.675.7151 This Message Sponsored by the Following Business Concern in the Diocese of Fall River Gilbert C. Oliveira Insurance Agency

fasting — the act of sacrifice. I know that fasting can be a very difficult thing to do, as I have trouble with it myself. However, although I may not be able to always physically fast, I try to remember why we are called to fast. I see fasting as an act of sacrifice in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for the human race.”

Father Looney said his goal with the Lenten reflection project was to pull together a good cross-section of various people from the greater Stonehill College community to provide a wide range of testimony and input on the various Gospel passages.

“Early on I asked people from various parts of the college to recommend to me people they thought might enjoy being invited to write a reflection and share their faith,” he said. “So we had every part of the college offering their reflections.”

Noting that Catholics are typically not prone to speak publicly about their faith, Father Looney hopes that projects like this will not only help those who have participated be more open to sharing their faith, but also inspire others to do the same after reading them.

“I think it can be really inspiring for people to drop in on each other’s relationship with God, so to speak, and to hear about how they’ve dealt with life,” Father Looney said.

“It’s not something that easily comes to our lips … but it may be most important in our lives when we talk about it least.”

Father Looney added that liturgical celebrations such as Lent and Advent are ideal times to not only reflect on our personal beliefs, but also share those reflections with others.

“One of the great joys of being a Catholic is the Church offers us so many various opportunities to take a step back and think reflectively about our lives and to ask ourselves: ‘where is God in my life right now?’ I think Lent is a season where we’re called to open our ears to those questions that God asks each of us each day,” Father Looney said. “My hope during this Lenten season for every believer is that they have a growing understanding of God’s great love and mercy for them and that leads them to a deeper sense of commitment to their life of faith.”

The link for the daily Lenten reflections can be found posted on Stonehill College’s main Website at www.stonehill.edu or can be accessed directly at www.stonehill.edu/seasonalreflections.xml.

February 27, 2009

Teen ‘sexting’ scandal can provide teachable moments for parents continued from page one

Middle School Principal Paul Fay. He learned of the photograph when one of the boys went to a school adjustment counselor.

The boys have not been suspended, but educators and police planned to spell out to students the legal and physical risks involved, the Times reported. A hearing date to determine if charges will be filed has not been announced.

Elsewhere, teen-agers actually have been charged in such incidents. Six Pennsylvania teens face child pornography charges for sending and receiving nude pictures of classmates in January, according to media reports.

Three Mansfield High School students were suspended for downloading topless pictures of an underage classmate and posting them on the social networking site MySpace. A number of Billerica Marshall Middle School students are under investigation for circulating a nude photo of a 14-year-old girl via cell phone.

Other cases have been reported in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Washington, and Michigan.

Diocesan youth ministers interviewed agreed that this behavior stems from a “perfect storm” of causes. Brew 40 years of adults engaging in gratuitous sex; add media hype selling it; mix in rapid technological advances and spice with puberty.

“Kids have found a new way to do something wrong,” said Deb Jezak, director of confirmation and youth ministry at Good Shepherd and Holy Trinity parishes in Fall River.

“Parents are shocked because they’re often clueless. We as a Church need to help our parents do a better job.”

Jezak’s suggestion: Offer a technology workshop to bring parents up to speed on how children communicate with each other.

Websites like Teenchatdecoder.com can help adults learn the language, offered Father David Frederici, chaplain to Cape Cod Community College, Cape Cod Hospital and the diocesan Scouting program.

He agreed that parents need to be more techno-savvy. “Start a conversation at the dinner table” about online social behavior, he said. “We should be having lots of conversations at the dinner table anyway, about the faith, about moral living.

“This is a symptom of larger

15

The Anchor

problem we need to deal with in building up our families,” Father Frederici said. “In the long run, kids really do hold to the values a family teaches.

We’re losing opportunities to pass along those values if we ignore these conversations.”

One tool to present the beauty of sexuality in a moral context is Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body,” according to Father Jay Mello, chaplain at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth.

Seniors there study this series of reflections written by the late pope explaining God’s vision of the human person as an integration of body, soul and spirit.

“With God’s grace, this

will give them what they need in forming their consciences about their sexual morality,” Father Mello said. “They have many questions and curiosities; if they’re not getting the truth from us, then they will search for it in other places.”

“The Internet, which can be a great gift, can also be an instrument of the devil in corrupting the minds and moral compasses of our culture,” he added. “Parents need to know about what their children are viewing and utilize parental controls, to ensure that their children are not being corrupted by explicit sexual content.”

“As long as we’ve had junior high kids we’ve had these problems, but now we have

cell phones,” Father Frederici said. “Technology is taking off big time. There’s a huge problem with thousands of images a day of child pornography posted on the Internet.

I don’t think kids see it as that, but access and curiosity could lead to other problems because technology makes it so easy.”

It’s naïve to ignore possible long-term consequences, according to Jeff Colón, executive director of Pure Life Ministries, a Kentucky affiliate of the American Family Association.

“For 15 years, I have watched men come into our residential program for sexual addiction and the story is almost always the same — a lifetime of addiction to sex often begins with viewing pornographic images

at an early age,” Colón said.

Internet pornography addiction is so pervasive that seminaries are searching for ways to provide future priests with the tools to aid those struggling with the addiction.

A recent workshop, “Caught in the Web,” at Episcopalianaffiliated St. Paul’s College in Washington, D.C. offered such resources to formation directors and seminarians.

The “sexting” phenomenon will “hopefully serve as a wake up call to our culture that evil is truly present in our society and we must respond with truth and charity,” concluded Father Mello. He suggested that parents best foster in their children a healthy respect for themselves and their own sexuality by modeling such behavior in their own lives.

LA SALETTE PRAYER GROUPS: PADRE PIO PAX CHRISTI LIFE IN THE SPIRIT OF RECONCILIATION INTERCESSORY PRAYER GROUP For more information call (508) 222-5410

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MARCH CALENDAR OF EVENTS (All Masses & Healing Services in the Shrine Church) MASSES: Sunday 12:10 p.m.

Monday - Friday 12:10 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.

First Fridays at 5:15 p.m.

Extreme East at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday 12:10 p.m. & 4:30 p.m.

HEALING SERVICES Mass & Healing Service Spanish Healing Service/Sanacion Sun. Mar. 1st at 2:30 p.m. with Fr. John Sullivan, M.S. No Portuguese Healing Service due to Portuguese Retreat English Healing Service Sun. Mar. 29 at 2:00 p.m. with Father Pat, M.S. SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION (Confessions- Lenten Schedule) (Reconciliation Chapel) Monday – Friday 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Saturday – Sunday 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

SUNDAY HOLY HOUR: Pope Benedict XVI & the Lord’s Prayer Sun. March 8th at 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. (Church) Led by Fr. Vic Chaupetta, M.S. BIBLE STUDY THE WRITINGS OF ST. PAUL - PART III Saturdays- March 14th, 21st and 28th 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. with Fr. Donald Paradis, M.S. in the Reconciliation Chapel MASS FOR THE UNBORN Saturday, March 28 at 4:30 p.m.

Hosted by the Knights of Columbus BETHANY NIGHTS “A PLACE TO BEGIN AGAIN” Fri. Mar. 27 – 7:30 p.m. with John Polce – Good will donation.

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MARCH 3-31, 2009 Lenten Series: “Living the Sermon on the Mount” Featuring the lives of Dorothy Day - March 3, 2009 - Nelson Mandela -March 10, 2009 Thomas Merton - March 17, 2009 - Archbishop Oscar Romero - March 24, 2009 Mahatma Gandhi - March 31, 2009 Tuesdays: 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. or 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Welcome Center, Conference Room A Led by: Fr. John Sullivan, M.S. & Pax Christi Members

RETREAT HOUSE............................................. (508) 222-8530 Call for information on retreats, Including the Grief Education Program.

GIFT SHOP – Open Every Day 10:00 – 5:00 p.m.

(508) 236 - 9090 WELCOME CENTER AND CAFETERIA Open for rentals, tours, groups & special functions by reservation; Pilgrimage and Parish groups are welcome year-round!

PLEASE CALL AHEAD: 508-236-9068 (Tue.- Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.)

Log on to our website: www.lasalette-shrine.org Email us at: programsoffice@lasalette-shrine.org

16

Youth Pages

February 27, 2009

UNDERCOVER OPERATION — St. Mary’s Elementary School in New Bedford donated 12 blankets to The Woman’s Shelter in Greater New Bedford. The girls meet weekly to knit blankets and donate to various charities. Pictured are some of the girls with Jane Flynn, clinical supervisor of the Woman’s Shelter.

FRIENDS OF THE OX — Third-graders from SS. Peter & Paul School, Fall River, display Chinese scrolls they recently crafted during Chinese New Year celebrations for the Year of the Ox. The Chinese characters painted on the scrolls proclaim traditional New Year wishes for “good luck” and “double happiness.” From left: Anne-Marie Brilhante, Aja Pragana, Hannah Webster, and Elizabeth Brilhante, along with fourth-grader Kaitlyn Brilhante.

MAKES CENTS TO THEM — Firstgrade students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro celebrated Lincoln’s 200th birthday. Displaying Lincoln pennies are, back row from left: Melanie Garcia, Shea Mulhern, Sofia Troy and Spencer Glasson. Front row: Ciara Cronin, Peter Le, Griffin Barros and Isabella Simoneau. At left, in their classroom, some students made log homes and heard a history of Lincoln’s background as a boy growing up in Illinois while others held a science experiment cleaning and shining Lincoln pennies in vinegar and salt.

ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS — Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro, Senior Emma Oti has advanced to finalist in the 2009 National Achievement Scholarship Program competition. Oti will be considered for National Achievement Scholarships offered to outstanding African-American students who demonstrate, through outstanding performance, potential for future academic success.

With Oti are her guidance counselor Patsy Ann O’Boy and Principal Bill Runey.

February 27, 2009

T

Youth Pages Lent, a time for fasting and feasting

ime flies. Seems that just a few weeks ago we were celebrating the season of Christmas. Now it is already Lent.

It does seem, however, that Lent comes at just about the right time each year. It is important to have a time like Lent set aside to think and reflect on our faith. I know I always try to give Lenten preparation some serious thought. I can’t always say, however, that I’m successful utilizing these six weeks as effectively as I’d like.

During Lent, many of us decide to “give up” certain things.

They might give up sweets or snacks or other things that might bring them some degree of happiness.

Others may try to make adjustments in their lives. More like a “spiritual resolution,” such as going to daily Mass or attending Bible study classes, or perhaps spending more time in prayer. Hopefully this works out better for others than my New Year’s resolutions do.

What are you doing for Lent?

Personally I think we focus Lent should be more than a time too much on what we think we of fasting. It should be a joyous should give up during Lent. I season of feasting. Lent is a time have always felt that it was imto fast from certain things and to portant to concentrate on how I feast on others. can become more Christ-like to I came across a Lenten litany others and how I can become a better disciple of Christ’s and especially what I can do for others during this time.

One particular passage in the Bible stands out as a way to live Lent. In Isaiah 58:6-8, it is writBy Frank Lucca ten, “This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, that has been a good reflection for me as I prepare for this breaking every yolk: sharing Lenten season. I cannot cite the your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the author but have found it quoted in many different versions in homeless; clothing the naked many different documents. With when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.” thanks to the author, I would like to share a portion of it with This would appear to be good you here. Read each line slowly set of instructions for living the and take a moment to reflect on Lenten season — or any season each line — especially in light for that matter.

SAN ANTONIO (CNS) — St. Mary’s University in San Antonio announced a new financial aid program called “Access St. Mary’s” to enable incoming freshmen who have excelled in high school and who have financial needs to get a tuition-free college education.

University officials said the program, announced February 5, was created in response to the nation’s current economic climate that could make college tuition an extreme hardship or simply out of reach for many families.

It was approved by Charles Cotrell, president of the Marianist-run university, and the alumni association. The program is for members of the 2009-10 fresh-

man class.

“There is the misconception that St. Mary’s as a private, liberal arts university is too expensive, when in fact we are very affordable,” said Cotrell in a statement.

“We don’t want to be off the table when students are considering where to go, especially during these tough economic times,” he said. “When students choose St. Mary’s, they are getting a huge return on their investment because we have one of the highest graduation rates in Texas.”

Prospective full-time freshmen for fall 2009 can qualify for the tuition program if they are eligible for a federal Pell Grant and qualify for the St. Mary’s

president’s or trustee’s academic scholarship. Recipients must plan to attend St. Mary’s full time and live in university housing.

The school’s annual tuition is approximately $21,000. “Access St. Mary’s” would be a four-year commitment for students who meet the requirements for renewing the aid. With the full price of tuition covered, students will be able to apply other aid for which they are eligible toward room, board and other fee charges.

Students must complete the school’s undergraduate admission application, available online at www.stmarytx.edu/finaid, and the U.S. government’s free application for federal student aid, found online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.

CAPE CODDERS FOR LIFE — Pope John Paul II High School freshmen and sophomores joined with students from fellow diocesan high schools during this year’s March for Life in Washington, D.C.

ALL IN THE FAMILY — St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven recently held a first penance service. Thirty-two children participated. Here Kristina Gonsalves takes part with her children Jaden, left, and Shari.

Be Not Afraid

Freshmen could attend St. Mary’s University tuition free

17

of your own preparation for Lent.

Lent is a season in which we should: fast from judging others — feast on Christ dwelling in them; fast from apparent darkness — feast on the reality of light; fast from pessimism — feast on optimism; fast from thoughts of illness — feast on the healing power of God; fast from words that pollute — feast on phrases that purify; fast from anger — feast on patience; fast from worry — feast on Divine Providence; fast from unrelenting pressure — feast on unceasing prayer; fast from negatives — feast on positives; fast from complaining — feast on appreciation; fast from hostility — feast on

non-resistance; fast from bitterness — feast on forgiveness; fast from anxiety — feast on hope; fast from yourself — feast on a silent heart.

Perhaps we can use this Lent as a time to be there for others. With the difficult economic climate there isn’t a person out there that is not in some need of God’s love and our assistance.

Whether it is a simple smile or a hug, or serving his people in a soup kitchen or taking the time to visit a shut-in or someone who’s ill.

For this Lent, consider fasting from anything that leads us away from God and feasting on all that brings us closer to him.

Frank Lucca is a youth minister at St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea. He is chair and director of the YES! Retreat and director of the Christian Leadership Institute (CLI). He is a husband and a father of two daughters.

The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth. If schools or parish Religious Education programs have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@ anchornews.org

18

The Anchor

February 27, 2009

‘40 Days’ Pro-Life vigil resumes outside Attleboro abortion clinic

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

ATTLEBORO — The “40 Days for Life” Pro-Life campaign that links a peaceful but fervent vigil outside a local abortion clinic with prayer and fasting, has resumed.

“It’s unbelievable the cooperation we’re receiving with God’s help this second time around,” reported Steve Marcotte, co-director of the earlier and successful grass roots effort last fall at the abortion clinic at 150 Emory Street that drew hundreds, including clergy and laity.

“We have many more people already wanting to participate in this second 40-day campaign to end abortion from February 25 through April 5, and so we are hopeful and optimistic as we schedule people to cover the hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., every day,” added Marcotte, who, along with co-director Ron Larose, is a member of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Seekonk.

To assist, “we’ve newly developed a leadership team to help us in this important endeavor and it means we’re able to move ahead quicker as we plan for the days ahead with individuals as well as groups,” Marcotte said.

What’s also new this year is that parishes can become involved in the prayer vigil.

“It means that people can actively participate in the vigil but in the comfort and beauty of their own churches apart from the clinic scene, but with the same great prayer and intentions,” said Marcotte, who is a professional firefighter for the Town of Attleboro.

“So far we have two parishes signed up on this separate listing of those taking part, and God willing, we will have more,” he said.

“I can’t imagine a better way to spend an hour in prayer during the Lenten season than in this Pro-Life cause.”

The local “40 Days for Life” effort in the Fall River Diocese is among 173 national campaigns at abortion clinics in 45 states, two Canadian provinces, and Puerto Rico, for the largest Pro-Life mobilization in history.

Anyone wanting to volunteer can get more information and sign-up online at the Website www.40daysforlife.com/Attleboro; or by calling Steve Marcotte at 508-406-1211, or contacting him at 40dflattleboro@comcast.net.

Little Sisters of the Poor ‘thrilled’ their founder will be canonized

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will canonize Blessed Jeanne Jugan, the foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor, on October 11 has created excitement among congregation members worldwide.

“We knew it was only a matter of time, but everyone was just thrilled when the official announcement was made,” said Sister Constance Veit, publications coordinator in the Little Sisters of the Poor’s Baltimore province. “We’ve anticipated this for so long.”

Pope John Paul II beatified Jeanne Jugan in 1982, and Pope Benedict XVI signed a document Dec. 6, 2008, recognizing the miracle advancing her sainthood cause.

Pope Benedict February 21 presided over a consistory that gave final approval for the canonization of 10 people, including Blessed Jeanne, who began her ministry on the streets of France taking the elderly and poor into her home in the Port St. Lucie, Florida Mobile home, 2 bedrooms, 1½ baths.

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early decades of the 1800s.

To support her ministry, Blessed Jeanne begged for money, a tradition the Little Sisters of the Poor consider a fundamental part of their mission today.

The canonization will take place during the Synod of Bishops for Africa, and is expected to be celebrated in St. Peter’s Square, along with four others who will be declared saints.

The miracle linked to Blessed Jeanne concerns Dr. Edward Gatz, a retired Omaha, Neb., anesthesiologist diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1989, Sister Constance told Catholic News Service.

The doctor was advised by a Jesuit priest at Creighton University in Omaha to pray to Blessed Jeanne and a few months later a follow-up biopsy found Gatz — who is still alive at the age of 71 — to be cancer-free, she said.

Since Blessed Jeanne began her mission in 1839, the Little Sisters of the Poor congregation has grown to more than 2,700 members, who care for approximately 13,000 needy elderly people in 202 familystyle homes throughout the world, including 32 in North America.

HE GAVE HIS ALL — Blessed Damien de Veuster is pictured in bed shortly before he died in 1889 at the Kalawao settlement on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. The Belgian-born missionary priest contracted Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, during his 16-year service to an isolated community of people who had the disease. (CNS photo)

Blessed Damien’s canonization slated for October 11 in Rome

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican announced that the canonization of Blessed Damien de Veuster, a Belgian-born missionary priest who served patients with Hansen’s disease on the Hawaiian island of Molokai more than a century ago, will be held October 11.

Pope Benedict XVI authorized the publication two weeks ago of a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Damien last July, clearing the way for his canonization.

The Vatican said that an “ordinary public consistory” — a meeting of the pope with cardinals resident in Rome and invited bishops and other dignitaries — held February 21, finalized the approval of 10

canonizations, including Blessed Damien’s.

The dates for the canonization ceremonies were announced February 21.

Blessed Damien was a 19th-century missionary, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Born in 1840, he spent the last 16 years of his life caring for patients with Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, on Molokai.

Blessed Damien died in 1889 and was beatified in 1995.

The miracle attributed to Blessed Damien involves the 1999 healing of Audrey Horner Toguchi, a Hawaiian who had been diagnosed with cancer. She had a tumor and other tissue removed and under-

went radiation; when new tumors were found on her lungs, she decided to pray to Blessed Damien instead of undergoing the chemotherapy her doctors recommended.

The lung tumors gradually shrunk and disappeared altogether.

In his message for World Leprosy Day 2009, Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan called Blessed Damien “a lighthouse of faith and love.”

Cardinal Lozano, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, said the soon-to-be saint is “the symbol of all those consecrated to Christ with religious vows who still today dedicate their lives to such people” as those struck with Hansen’s disease.

U.S. Catholic colleges hope to secure stimulus dollars

WASHINGTON — With a $787 billion stimulus package signed into law, presidents of U.S. Catholic colleges are making efforts to secure a slice of the billions allocated to higher-education projects.

“We’re making our case for some of those funds, mostly with greening up our buildings,” said Mary J. Meehan, president of Alverno College in Milwaukee. “They are looking for shovel-ready projects, and an architect can get those plans ready quickly.”

But in Easton, Mass., Holy Cross Father Mark T. Cregan, president of Stonehill College there, was not as sure.

“I am pretty skeptical about us getting any of that money, because so many other organizations are salivating over a slice of that pie,” said Father Cregan. “With that said, we are identifying projects that would fit the criteria. We’re going to do what we can. We have some alumni who are politically connected.”

This stimulus package is designed to spend billions in federal dollars on infrastructure, transportation and clean-energy projects in an effort to put millions of Americans back to work and stabilize the economy.

Catholic college presidents attending the 2009 annual meeting of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Washington January 31-February 2 were all abuzz about the prospect of tapping into that stimulus money.

The stimulus package includes $53.6 billion in funds to be allocated through the Education Department; portions of it may be used for “modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green-building rating system” in buildings that “are primarily used for instruction, research or student housing.”

Segments of a $54 billion state stabilization fund — with $39 billion set aside for education — can also be used for modernizing facilities on higher education campuses.

These funds will be filtered through state governments.

“A few of our trustees are trying to convince the governor of our state that our projects are worthy of the stimulus money that will come

to Wisconsin,” Meehan said. “I’m not overly optimistic about that, but we are putting forth our best efforts, especially in projects that will make our campus more environmentally friendly and energy efficient.”

Most of the presidents who spoke with Catholic News Service said they thought public institutions of higher education would get the lion’s share of money going to colleges and universities, but they were pulling together infrastructure and green projects they believe would be compatible with the intent of the economic recovery plan.

Duquesne University in Pittsburgh has a lobbying firm keeping the college’s president, Charles J. Dougherty, informed about what kind of projects the government is looking for when it comes to spending the stimulus money.

The stimulus package also provides an estimated $15 billion for scientific research, much of which will go to universities. Funding for the National Institutes of Health includes $1.5 billion to be set aside for university research facilities.

On the whole, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act spends an estimated $32 billion specifically on higher education.

February 27, 2009

Around the Diocese Eucharistic Adoration: Eucharistic Adoration ACUSHNET — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Church, 125 Main Street, Mondays from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., ending with evening prayer and Benediction.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place First Fridays at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, following the 8:30 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 p.m.

NEW BEDFORD — Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place at St. Joseph-St. Therese Church, 51 Duncan Street, Mondays following the 8:30 a.m. Mass until 1:30 p.m.

For more information call 508-995-2354.

NEW BEDFORD — Eucharistic adoration takes place 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 233 County Street, with night prayer and Benediction at 8:45 p.m., and confessions offered during the evening.

NEW BEDFORD — There is a daily holy hour from 5:15-6:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue. It includes adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Liturgy of the Hours, recitation of the rosary, and the opportunity for confession.

TAUNTON — Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord Church, 31 First Street, immediately following the 8 a.m. Mass and continues throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m., concluding with recitation of the rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction.

Recitation of the rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass.

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street, holds perpetual eucharistic adoration. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

Miscellaneous: Miscellaneous ATTLEBORO — The 40 Days for Life Pro-Life campaign invites people throughout the diocese to join in 40 days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion.

A peaceful vigil will take place outside a local abortion clinic, 150 Emory Street through April 5. Those interested in participating or for further information can contact Steve Marcotte at 508-406-1211 or visit www.40daysforlife.com/attleboro.

EAST FREETOWN — The St. John Neumann Women’s Guild will sponsor its annual Antique and Collectible Sale at the St. John Neumann Parish Barn, Route 18 (Middleboro Road), next to Cathedral Camp, March 14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Snow date is March 21. Admission is free.

FALL RIVER — The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet March 6 at the Parish of the Good Shepherd, 1598 South Main Street. Following the 6 p.m. Mass celebrated by Father Freddie Babiczuk, there will be a meal in the church hall. The guest speaker is Fire Fighter Mike Arruda, who will give a presentation about fire safety. For information call 508-672-8174.

HYANNIS — The Tridentine Mass formerly celebrated at Our Lady of Grace Chapel in Chatham is now Sundays at 1 p.m. at St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis.

MASHPEE — A St. Patrick’s Day Celebration will be held in the parish hall of Christ the King Church, the Commons, March 14 beginning at 5:30 p.m. For information or reservations call 508-477-2837.

MATTAPOISETT — A Day With Mary will take place March 7, 8:10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in St. Anthony’s Church, 22 Barstow Street. It will include a video, instruction, devotion, procession, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a crowning of Mary, an opportunity for the sacrament of penance, enrollment in the Brown Scapular and investiture in the Miraculous Medal. For more information call Mary Creedon at 508-984-1823.

NEW BEDFORD — Father Martin Buote will offer a Bible Study, sponsored by St. Lawrence Martyr, Our Lady of the Assumption, St. John the Baptist, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James parishes. Classes begin March 3 at 7 p.m. in St. James’ Rectory, 233 County St., and on March 7 at 9:45 a.m. in Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Chapel at St. Anne. Please bring your Bible.

NEW BEDFORD — St. Kilian’s Parish, 306 Ashley Boulevard, will be showing the following movies during Lent: “Horton Hears a Who” on March 8, “The Song of Bernadette” on March 15, “Bella” on March 22, “Padre Pio” on March 29, and “St. Rita” on April 5. All showings begin at 2:30 p.m. and are sponsored by the St. Kilian Youth Group. Admission is free.

NEW BEDFORD — Sisters of Reparation of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus M. Wendy and M. Grace will present the message of Diving Mercy as given to St. Faustina, Sunday at 3 p.m., at St. Lawrence Church, 565 County Street, followed by veneration of a relic of St. Faustina. All are invited.

SOUTH ATTLEBORO — “The Beckoning,” a Lenten series, will take place each Wednesday during Lent from March 1 to April 4 at 6 p.m. in St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church, 18 Baltic Street. Anna Rae-Kelly will lead participants in a recognition of God’s powerful “beckoning calls” to his people, the modern “anawim.” The series is free and open to the public and will be followed by Mass at 7 p.m. For more information call 508-761-8111 or visit www.annaprae.com.

SWANSEA — St. Louis de France Parish, 56 Buffington Street, will host weekly Centering Prayer gatherings using a Lectio Divina format. The group will meet in the Family Room of the main church at 6:15 p.m., every Wednesday in Lent, beginning March 4 through April 8. Prayer begins promptly at 6:30. For more information, contact Charles R. Demers at forums8799@mypacks.net or 508-264-5823.

WAREHAM — The Cape and Islands Deanery Prayer Group will hold a Day of Recollection March 19 at 8:45 a.m. at the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center, 226 Great Neck Road.

Father William Petrie, SSCC, provincial of the Congregation will be the presenter. The day will conclude with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Mass at 3 p.m. For information call 508-759-2737.

Support Groups

FALL RIVER — The next meeting of Courage, a group for people who are experiencing same-sex attraction and would like to live in the Church’s teachings of chastity, will be held tomorrow at 7 p.m. For location information call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

Pro-Life

ATTLEBORO — Concerned faithful are needed to pray the rosary outside Four Women, Inc., an abortion clinic at 150 Emory Street, Thursdays from 3-4 p.m., or 4-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 7:30-8:30 a.m. For information call 508-238-5743.

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The Anchor

RCIA’s catechumens, candidates begin final leg of journey Sunday

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

FALL RIVER — Dozens of people will come forward on Sunday — the first Sunday of Lent — in St. Mary’s Cathedral to begin the final stages of their journey towards baptism or entering into full Communion with the Catholic Church at Easter.

In dioceses across the country, tens of thousands of Americans will be involved in similar rites.

At the 3 p.m. prayer service, at which Bishop George W. Coleman will preside, approximately 20 catechumens and their godparents, as well as another 20 candidates and their sponsors will participate in the traditional Rite of Election and the Call to Continuing Conversion, reports Deacon Robert Lemay, diocesan director of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

The RCIA, established in the Church in 1972, spells out the formation of catechumens and the steps of their preparation for the three initiating sacraments of baptism, first Communion and confirmation, to be conferred at the Easter vigil.

For candidates already baptized, the formation and preparation is distinct, although there are parallels and members of both groups often meet together in their parish and diocesan courses. More a process than a program, the candidates move at their own pace through months and even years of study and preparation for the sacraments.

Sunday’s service will include scriptural readings, and a homily by Bishop Coleman.

At the Rite of Election, godparents will present the catechumens, and after affirming their commitment to entry and

membership in the Church, accompany them as they enroll by signing the Book of the Elect.

The candidates, following the Act of Election, will be presented for the Call to Continuing Conversion. Sponsors will speak on behalf of the candidate’s dedicated efforts.

Deacon Lemay explained to The Anchor that the RCIA is a process much like the path of a journeyman. Candidates seek who they are, even why they are. He likened it to an apprenticeship in faith where one hones his talents and grows in Christ.

In the ensuing weeks of the penitential season of Lent, the candidates will be subject to the “scrutinizes,” in-depth looks at biblical passages and deep reflections on their meanings.

“It is all done through the grace of the Holy Spirit,” Deacon Lemay said.

quarters in Ossining, N.Y. Ordained a priest on July 3, 1958, Father Kelley was assigned to work with indigenous people in the central mountain range in Nantau County, Taiwan (1958-65).

He was subsequently assigned as pastor to several Taiwanese parishes in Nantun, Au-Li and Lo-chhu in Central Taiwan in the Diocese of Taichung. For the past 21 years, he has served as pastor of Christ the King Parish.

Speaking about mission, Father

Kelley said, “Availability, friendliness and patience are the essential ingredients of a happy and contented missionary.”

Born in Attleboro Father Kelley attended public school in Mansfield, Mass., and graduated from Mansfield High School. He attended St. Charles Seminary, Catonsville, Md. and earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Maryknoll College, Glen Ellyn, Ill. and a master’s degree in religious education from Maryknoll Seminary, Ossining.

Attleboro priest celebrates 50 years as Maryknoll Missioner

MARYKNOLL, N.Y. — Father Raymond Kelley, M.M., of Attleboro, celebrated his 50th anniversary of ordination as a Maryknoll Missioner earlier this year in ceremonies held at the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America head-

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks

March 2 Rev. Antoine Berube, Pastor, St. Joseph, Attleboro, 1936 Rev. James J. Brady, Retired Pastor, St. Kilian, New Bedford, 1941 Rev. Tarcisius Dreesen, SS.CC., Sacred Hearts Monastery, Fairhaven, 1952 Rev. Alphonse E. Gauthier, Pastor, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1962 Rev. J. Omer Lussier, Pastor, Sacred Heart, North Attleboro, 1970 March 3 Rt. Rev. Msgr. Timothy P. Sweeney, LL.D., Pastor, Holy Name, New Bedford, 1960 March 5 Rev. James McGuire. Pastor, St. Mary, New Bedford, 1850 Permanent Deacon Manuel H. Camara, 1995 Rev. James A. McCarthy, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, Falmouth, 2007 March 6 Rev. Joseph F. McDonough, Former Pastor, Sacred Heart, Taunton, 1906 Rev. John W. Quirk, Founder, St. Joseph, Taunton; Rev. Bernard P. Connolly, S.S., St. Charles College, Maryland, 1932 Rev. Antoine Lanoue, O.P., 1996 Rev. Jerome Lawyer, C.S.C., 2006 March 7 Rev. Arthur P. J. Gagnon, Pastor, Holy Rosary, New Bedford, 1958

The Portuguese TV Mass broadcast on the Portuguese Channel March 1 at 11 a.m. will originate from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in New Bedford.

20

The Anchor

February 27, 2009

North Dighton parish ministry holds blessing of the shawls

NORTH DIGHTON — The St. Nicholas of Myra Prayer Shawl Ministry recently held a blessing of shawls at St. Nicholas Church, during a weekend Mass.

The group was founded in Dighton in 2006 and moved to North Dighton in 2008 at the creation of St. Nicholas Parish.

Since then, it has grown in membership.

Shawls are created at a monthly church gathering or at home.

As the shawls are being prepared,

prayers and blessings are offered for the intended recipients.

Shawls are presented to children at baptism or to the sick or elderly in time of need. Shawls are accompanied by the prayerful support of the community. A medal of St. Nicholas is included with the shawl.

The national founders of the ecumenical Prayer Shawl Ministry are scheduled to present a public workshop at St. Nicholas Church on September 26, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. All are welcome.

RETRACING HISTORY — Msgr. John J. Smith, a retired priest of the Fall River Diocese, recently led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Also making the trip was Father Hugh J. McCullough, pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish in Fall River. Here the pilgrims pose for a group photo on the steps of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. It is believed to stand on the site of Golgatha, where Jesus was crucified, and on the site of his burial tomb.

NO IDLE HANDS HERE — From left, Lois Achtelik, Terri Carpenter, Maureen Dutra, Barbara Gracia, and Alice Souza, members of the St. Nicholas of Myra Prayer Shawl Ministry, recently attended a blessing of the shawls ceremony at the North Dighton church.

(Photo by Bella Powell)

St. Vincent’s Home joins in program to fight hunger

FALL RIVER — St. Vincent’s Home is participating in the Feinstein Foundation’s 12th Annual $1 Million Giveaway to fight hunger from March 1 through April 30.

A portion of donations in the form of cash, checks, or food items received by St. Vincent’s during that time frame will be matched by Alan Shawn Feinstein of the Feinstein Foundation.

The more donations made to St. Vincent’s during the program, the more of the Feinstein Foundation’s $1 Million Giveaway the Fall River school will receive.

The Feinstein Foundation’s past $1 million challenges to fight hunger have raised a record $940 million for organizations nationwide.

By making a donation to St. Vincent’s, donors will become a partner in the Feinstein Foundation’s most successful grassroots campaign to fight hunger of all times. Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

For more information, contact

Melissa Dick at St. Vincent’s by calling 508-679-8511.